


You’re Still in My Heart

by RainG8



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura isn’t a mean person it’s to add to the story, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, a lot happens, established klance, everyone is stressed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainG8/pseuds/RainG8
Summary: Lance and Keith are chosen for diplomat meeting on Arkaza. What they don’t know is the Galra have set up an ambush. Lance now have to face a new form of pain caused by the war. Memory loss._____“Oh, then your Red Paladin and the one he stands close to.” Das explained, eyes clearly flicking to Lance and Keith’s intertwined hands. Keith and Lance looked at each other before looking to gage Allura’s reaction.“Ah, I’m sure they are both grateful for the chance to meet you and your people.” Allura said tightly as if her teeth were grinding.After this Das held up a hand and the video call was ended.All eyes turned to Allura as she seemed to steam at the very notion they didn’t want her to come. This was something that has never happened as Allura is the leader of the fight against the Galran Empire. She should be the one who attended every meeting Voltron takes part in.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 70





	1. All’s Right with the Universe; Till it’s Not

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own Voltron or anything related.

“Keith?” Lance mumbles, shifting to pull his arm out from under his boyfriend, “Babe? You're crushing my arm.” 

Keith only hummed and snuggled right back into Lance’s shoulder. Lance smiled at the very adorable bedhead his partner was sporting. Lance buried a hand in his hair starching lightly at his scalp trying to wake Keith. He couldn’t believe this Keith has been his for five months now. It felt new every day. A new smile. Hug. Laugh. Kiss. Lance couldn’t get enough.

“Babe,” Lance tied again after Keith shifted, “my arm is dead and it’s all your fault.”

Keith huffed and rolled onto his back, just enough for Lance to pull his arm out from under his boyfriend. Lance then rolled with him planting his head directly over Keith's heart. Listening to its steady beats as Keith’s arms are slung over Lance's back, rubbing it lightly.

Lance relished in the fact Keith was home. Keith and Lance weren’t used to having quiet mornings or quiet time in general. The Blade or Marmora’s demands of Keith were increasing and the same thing could be said with Voltron and Lance. Leaving Lance to miss him more and more each time he left. Sure, Keith’s primary residence is the Castle, but the weeks he spends with the Blade tears at both their hearts. 

Keith has been gone for a while, a pheb, on a mission that almost cost his life several times; not that he said so, but Lance can tell how shaken up he was when he was finally able to return last night. 

“How are you feeling?” Lance asked, not the first time since his return. He couldn’t help but feel there was something on Keith’s mind he wasn’t sharing. The type of stress they were under was nothing to scoff at and Lance knew personally it’s better to take care of it right away. For everyone’s sake. 

“The mission was rough but I’m home now.” Keith said, skillfully dodging the question and not at all easing Lances feeling but it’ll have to do for now. “I really missed you.”

Lance instantly melted, tilting his head to see Keith was smiling down at him. Meeting Keith’s smile with one of his own he captured Keith lips with his. 

“I really missed you, too.” Lance whispered into his lips.

“I’m just glad it’s over and I can be here with your dumb….” Lance cut him off with another kiss but broke soon after because Lance was laughing.

“I’m glad you're here, too. Dumb….” Keith took his revenge as soon as he knew Lance was going to retaliate. Tickling Lance was too easy, a slight wriggle of fingers in his side was enough to make Lance breathless with laughter.

“No! Stop! Ahah….Keith!” 

“Never!” Keith chuckled, slowly stopping his fingers and sliding them around Lance’s back to rest there again.

“Why are you so mean to me?” Lance whined.

Keith just snorted and poked him in the side.

“See!” Lance said, “This is what I’m talking about!”

“Oh, shush. You love me.” Keith smirked. As he rubbed his hands along Lance’s sides to placate his high energy boyfriend.

Just as he suspected Lance melted right into his chest and sighed constantly. “I do.”

“I lov….”

A knock on Lance’s door startled them. “Lance? Keith, you guys up? We have a meeting this morning.”

“We’ll be there soon, Shiro.” Lance answered for them, though neither of them wanted to get up.

“Do we have to?” Keith asked Lance, dropping his head back onto the pillow.

“Yes, Keith you have to.” Shiro said from outside the door, a smirk evident in his voice.

“Leave Shiro! We’re coming!” Keith yelled, Lance stifling laughter into Keith's shirt.

“Can’t I tease my little brother?” Shiro chuckled.

“No, leave!” There was no bite, but Keith really did what his brother to leave.

“Fine, fine. I’m going.” They could almost hear him smirk all the way down the hall.

“Okay, come on.” Lance said, moving to get out of bed.

“No,” Keith said, pulling Lance down to his chest, “I refuse.” 

“Me too, but angry Allura is not a good Allura.” Lance reasoned. 

“Oof, you’re right.” Keith let go of Lance only to latch back on as Lance stood next to the bed stretching.

“Keith!” Lance laughed, “Babe we’re gonna be late!”

“Yup.” Keith said, refusing to let go.  
________

“Keith, Lance, nice of you to make an appearance.” Allura said, not angry but not happy either.

“Sorry, Princess.” Lance said not caring to explain why he and Keith were late.

“Grab some food and we’ll get started.” She said, agitated, but thankfully dropping any further questioning. Everyone could tell Pidge was ready to make a smart comment on their late arrival but Allura’s tone was nothing to question.

“Alright. Now that everyone is here we can start.” Pidge wiggled her eyebrows at Lance who in turn, face burning, wiggled them back. He could keep from chuckling at Pidge’s disgusted expression, even when there was nothing to be disgusted by. 

“....later today. They want to talk about who will be welcomed to their planet. Their citizens are not unwelcoming to strangers but they fear bringing more than two or three will spook their people. They are very friendly but they, because of the war, are weary of newcomers.” Allura explained, Lance glances at Keith who was focused on the brief but distant at the same time.

Lance reached out to grab his hand which Keith gratefully took in his own. A small smile creped it way onto Keith’s face as he rubbed a thanks onto Lance’s hand. 

“Arkazan is a private planet. They don’t usually agree to even talk to anyone outside their own but they seem to know the importance to this war. We will make sure to follow their lead as they choose who will represent Voltron on their home planet.” Shiro added. “Till then let’s train.” 

All the paladins groaned.  
________

After training the paladins, Coran, and Keith all meet on the bridge to have a video conference with the planet Arkaza. Keith immediately found Lance and moved to stand next to him, his hand seeking Lance’s as soon as he was there. 

“Hello, I am Princess Allura of Altea” introduces herself as the feed comes alive.

The alien on the screen looked human-ish. Their skin was dark green along with small horns just in their hairline. Their eyes were also green with small black pupils. From the video Lance couldn’t tell what their chest and down looked like but he secretly hoped it wasn’t something crazy. 

“My name is Das. We are pleased you are so concerned for our safety.” The Arkazan said wearily.

“Yes, we are thankful for the opportunity to make a new ally for the coalition.” She said, diplomatic smile firmly in place.

“We would like to conference with you Red and Blue Palidians.” Das said. Okay, Lance notes, right to the point.

“Lance and I would be happy to meet with you.” Allura said.

“You must have mistaken me. Your Red and Blue Paladins are requested.” Das said, starting to become agitated.

“I’m sorry, you must not know. I am currently the Blue Paladin and Lance is the Red Paladin.” Allura explained.

“Oh, then your Red Paladin and the one he stands close to.” Das explained, eyes clearly flicking to Lance and Keith’s intertwined hands. Keith and Lance looked at each other before looking to gage Allura’s reaction. 

“Ah, I’m sure they are both grateful for the chance to meet you and your people.” Allura said tightly as if her teeth were grinding.

After this Das held up a hand and the video call was ended.

All eyes turned to Allura as she seemed to steam at the very notion they didn’t want her to come. This was something that has never happened as Allura is the leader of the fight against the Galran Empire. She should be the one who attended every meeting Voltron takes part in. 

“Well, that was unexpected.” She said making her way to the door stopping next to Lance. “You and Keith will meet with me, in the dining room, in a varga to go over everything you will need to know before you leave in the morning.” 

Before Lance could answer she was walking briskly out the door, Coran following her out. Keith squeezed Lance’s hand. He looked to Keith who gave him a reassuring expression. Keith knew Lance was feeling the pressure of being the diplomat between the two. Filling Allura’s shoes was not an easy task. He knew that he was nowhere near as personable as Lance was and that responsibilities had to fall on Lance.

“I know what you're thinking but you’ll do great.” Keith said, only for Lance’s ears. Lance only nodded.

“Lance, you are the best human diplomat here. You will do great and Keith will be there to back you up.” Shiro said, laying a comforting hand on Lance’s shoulders.

“Yeah. Yeah, everything will go just fine I’m sure.” Lance said replacing the worried look on his face to ease his friends. No one was buying it. Stress had been eating everyone for some time now, and this was just adding to the list. 

“Hey, what do you guys want to bring with you for food. I can make….” Hunk, being the best friend he is, steered Lance towards this kitchen. Pidge followed them out of the bridge while looking at her tablet. 

“Keith?” Shiro must’ve read Keith’s expression like a book. 

“It's nothing. I just don’t want him to put too much pressure on himself.” Keith frowned, “These people seem to be extremely unwelcoming and cold. If they don’t ally with us Lance will blame himself.” 

“There’s no denying you’re right. You just need to be there for him as you try to secure another alliance. If it falls through we all will be here when you get back.” Shiro smiled, “We will make sure that he knows it’s not his fault.” 

“Thanks, Shiro. I really missed all of you while I was gone.” Keith said, briefly thinking about his mission.

“We missed you too.” Shiro said. “How are you? I know Lance has probably been all worried over you since you got back but….”

“I’m fine, tired. We had a few close calls and I’m not up for anything like that any time soon. But that’s what we do right?”

“Well, that’s what you do. None of us can say we’ve had a similar experience to you. Can I ask what you were doing?” Shiro questioned.

“We were looking for something valuable. I don’t know how to pronounce it. It kinda looked like a really small crystal but it was not from a Balmera. I’m not sure what it does but the Kolavan was sure happy to see it when we got back.” Keith said.

“Really? Where did you find it?” 

“It was in a cave under the ocean on some planet that is well hidden by its people. They claim to be avoiding the war. The only way we knew it was there was because the Blade had connections.” Keith said, remembering how his heart clenched at the people’s face when the war was mentioned. It’s hard to see fear expressed in anyone, children especially.

“That’s interesting. They are completely staying out of the war with cloaking?” Shiro contemplated.

“Something like that. They are very weak in military and defenses so they made the choice to cloak and try to stay safe.” Keith then explained wanting nothing more than to go back to bed, preferably with Lance. He blushed at the thought.

“Sounds like you guys did good work.” Shiro said, moving to leave, “I’m going to go see if Allura needs any help.” 

“See ya.”  
________

“Hunk, what are we doing?” Lance whined, though he was actually glad his friends were there to distract him from his thoughts.

“We are going to choose some foods for you to take with you!” Hunk said excitedly.

Making their way to the kitchen Lance leaned against the counter waiting for Hunk to talk him through the foods he was grabbing out of the cupboard like shelving the Altean castle had. 

“Lance, are you excited for your couples vacation?” Pidge smirked.

“Not a couples vacation, but thanks for the idea. Maybe I can ask Allura to drop Keith and me off on a beach planet.” Lance smirked right back, still fighting his growing worry.

“Well I for one would love a vacation!” Hunk beamed, “I think we all deserve one.”

“We do, think of the things I could get done with some down time.” Pidge said, looking longingly at her work tablet.

“No, Pidge, that is not what a vacation is for.” Lance chided, “It’s for relaxing and spending time together.”

“Your right! Think of what we all could get done with some down time!” 

“No!” Lance shreaked, grabbing Pidge and ruffling her hair as her side hurt from laughter. Hunk, meanwhile, laughed so hard he was crying onto a bag of what looked like purple potato chips.

“It’s not funny!” Lance said.

“You didn’t see your face buddy.” Hunk said wiping his face as Lance let Pidge go.

Lance huffed as he moved to sit at the counter. Once things quieted down Lance’s mind was racing again, just what he didn’t want to happen. How was Allura so put together? She never seemed to waver and it took the Paladins a long time to pick up when the princess was not happy while talking to others outside the castle. She does so much on trips like these, Lance wasn’t sure if he was fit to fill her shoes. The smiles and talking at the right time. All the different customs. What is he gonna do? Yes, he’ll have Keith but Keith was not a diplomat. He has said so himself. After being the Black Paladin and having to bear some of that weight; Keith confided to Lance that he was so glad to be done with that side of the war. Keith was more than capable of carrying Shoro load; he just was extremely uncomfortable with it. So, Lance didn’t really have anyone to lean on to help carry the load. Lance is sure Keith will help when talking to the Arkazaians but it won’t be like what Shiro does to help Allura. Keith hates public speaking so Lance is going to have to do the most of it and….

“Space castle to Lance!” Pidge said, waving a hand in front of Lance’s face, “Stop thinking so hard you are going to do great.” 

“How do you know that?” Lance explained his worries and he was met with sympathetic faces.

“Yes, Keith doesn’t like public speaking but who else would be able to help you keep your cool? Beside me because I’m great.” Lance chuckled nodding in agreement, “Keith may not be extremely helpful on the alliance securing side, but on the you side I’d say he’s probably one of the only people that’s able to make sure that you don’t go down self-doubt lane.” 

“You’re right, Hunk. I’m sure we’ll be fine, I’m just nervous.” Lance said scratching the back of his neck.

“Honestly, though you are really good with people so use that to your advantage. You and Keith don’t have to be like Allura and Shiro. You guys were picked for a reason; so just do it the way you would do it.” Pidge reasoned.

“Thank you,” Lance said, a smile finally taking his whole face again.  
________

It took Allura, Coran, Lance, and Keith two varga to go over the information on the Arkazaians. It was all completely garbage to Keith, nothing made sense and to be honest he was tired enough to sleep with his eyes open. 

“Keith?” Lance asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Keith said, turning to look at his boyfriend.

“Come on.” Lance said, pulling at Keith's hand that was laced with his. He pulled Keith to Lance’s room, that was now theirs, and led him to the bed.

“Come on,” Lance said again, “you are sleeping on your feet.” 

“Was the meeting done?” Lance chuckled as his exhausted boyfriend struggled to pull his shoes off.

“Yeah.” Lance smiled as Keith followed him into bed and made himself comfortable in the crook of Lance’s neck. 

“You're going to do great tomorrow.” Keith yawned, almost asleep.

“You sure?” 

“I’m sure.” 

Lance woke to knocking on his door. Groaning Lance moved to slip out from under the raven hair boy. 

There was a knock again and Lance quickly made his way to the door so whoever it was wouldn’t wake Keith, who was exhausted. 

It was Allura, “Lance good. I jus-”

Lance quickly stepped into the hallway to keep the noise out of the room. “Sorry, he’s sleeping. I wanna let him be.” 

Allura gave a knowing look and smiled, “You’re right he’s had a long pheb.” 

“Yeah and more he’s having to leave again when he just got back.” Lance said, feeling slightly guilty because this mission was for an entire race's safety.

“Yes, he’s putting in a great deal of work recently.” She said, “But we are not close to the end of the war so we all need to be putting in a lot of work.” 

“I thought we were. We haven’t had a day off in-” Lance started.

“Days off are for after the war we are talking about lives.” Making Lance feel incredibly guilty, “We can’t just take a day off. Especially you right now; I need to make sure you don’t mess up this mission especially without myself or Shiro there.”

“Mess up?” Lance’s face dropped as soon as these words let her mouth. ‘She’s just stressed’ Lance thought over and over. 

“Yes, we need to secure as many plants as we can. This planet is important, it holds valuable resources that we could use and they want you to represent us.” She went on, “So I need to make sure that you are prepared to handle this meeting the way it needs to be handled.” 

Your way? Lance wanted to ask.

Why was she all of a sudden being extra hard on me? Lance thought. Is there a really good chance of me messing up that bad? No, she’s just stressed. 

“Lance! Lance, you need to focus!” Allura chided, Lance finally looked up to see that she had led them back to the dining room they had vacated a few hours earlier. 

“Sorry, I’m focused now.” As meek as his voice was you’d think he was in serious trouble and was trying to find a way to placate the situation. 

Allura drilled Lance for two more hours. She sent over every detail of things from their culture to their politics and what is right and what is wrong. Lance was starting to fade when Coran saved the day and called for Allura for help. 

“You must take these and look over them again before you leave.” She said and with that she was gone.

A few minutes later the door was opening again and Lance hoped desperately that it wasn’t Allura. He was unsure of what had her so stressed but he was sick of dealing with the backlash from it. 

“Lance?” Hunk, thank God, walked in, “Come on, bud. Let’s get you back to bed.” 

“Hunk? What….” Lance didn’t even know what to say. Hunk seems to know what was going on.

“We overheard Allura drilling you from the kitchen.” Hunk confessed, “We asked Coran to call her away so you could get some rest before supper.” 

“Thank you.” Lance smiled, letting Hunk lead him back to his room.

“Don’t mention it. You will do great, remember what Pidge said. I think she has a very good point.”

You guys were picked for a reason; so just do it the way you would do it.

Once the door opened Lance heard, “Lance ‘s that you?” 

“Yeah,” sliding back next to Keith, it took two seconds before his back was pressed to Keith’s chest. Keith lightly kisses Lance’s nape before falling asleep again.

Lance couldn’t sleep. Allura's words were harsher than she probably intended. Lance wasn’t sure she was entirely wrong. He knows he has a knack for messing things up, even when he tried not to. He doesn’t want to disappoint anyone but what will happen if he does? He wished Allura and Shiro were picked to go instead. It would make things so much easier on everyone. Then they wouldn’t have to worry about Lance messing up again. 

Keith shifted closer to Lance and he was grateful for the boy beside him. He held so much love for Keith it was unexplainable. Lance is so happy he finally had the guts to ask Keith to be his boyfriend because the love he felt now was something he never wanted to let go of. 

Lance gently rolled over in Keith’s arms to face him. 

“I love you.” Lance whispered, and finally he was able to sleep.  
________

Arkaza was beautiful from space. It didn’t look like Earth but it looked like a large forested planet with little specks of water here and there. The people of the planet, granted they looked like Das, would blend perfectly with their surroundings. 

As Keith and Lance flew to the planet in Red there was a transmission from the castle. Keith reached over to answer the call and they were faced with everyone in the castle. 

“Remember what we have discussed. We aren’t allowed to check in on you due to the fact they will block all transmissions while you’re there. You will be on your own for the duration of the mission.” Allura said, maybe this is why she’s so stressed. She was unable to help them in any way during this mission. Once they had learned there were no transmissions outside their planet unless authorized Allura was almost furious. 

“Be careful. You both are well prepared and ready for anything that may happen.” Shiro reassured, “Good luck.”

“Thanks, see ya soon.” Was the last thing the team heard from Lance before communication was lost along with sight of the other.

They flew in a comfortable silence Keith sitting to the right of Lance’s pilot chair with the notes Allura gave them about the planet. 

“These are way too detailed.” Keith muttered, “If they are not accepting of others not knowing everything about their culture maybe we don’t want to be allies with them.” 

“I’d agree with that but we don’t really have a choice, right? We need their valuable supplies.” Lance said, focusing out the window.

“We do, unfortunately.” Keith muttered, moving slightly to rest his head against Lance’s knee. Lance smiled down at him, eternally grateful he was here. 

Upon looking back out the window Lance noticed a shadow encroaching behind them. Lance quickly looked through his Red’s eyes only to see a Galran cruiser was quickly making its way to the Red ready to collide. Lance knew in that second he didn’t have enough time to react, even if Red was the fastest lion. 

“Lance?” 

Just as they collided Lance pulled Keith into the pilot seat and stood to cover him with his body.

Their team unaware of the attack.


	2. Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith face the fact that Lance has lost his memories and there are unwanted visitors.

Keith woke slowly. There was something wrong but sleep demanded to take over again. Eyes slipping closed Keith heard loud creaking sounds. 

Am I back with the Blade? 

Finally he mustered enough energy to take in his surroundings. Instantly he was met with destruction. Now fully awake Keith realized he was sitting in Red‘s pilot seat. 

“What….” 

Red haul was cracked and the atmosphere was seeping into the cockpit. Keith moved to pull his helmet down but realized he could still breathe. His helmet readings said the oxygen level was high enough wherever they landed. 

Keith steeled himself, closing his eyes, and waited for the memories of what happened to come back before making any of the rash decisions he was known for.

Crashed. Okay he knows they crashed. They? Who else wa…. All at once everything comes back. Lance! 

“Lance!” Keith moved to find Lance but he didn’t even need to stand to see Lance crumpled at his feet.

“No, no, Lance! Babe.” Keith moved from the chair to carefully kneel by his boyfriend. Keith gently cupped Lance’s face only to see he was bleeding heavily from a gash on his forehead. Keith cursed and ran back for the medical kit. Picking his way through the cockpit was easier than Keith expected. Upon first inspection it looked serious; especially when Keith was panicking, but thankfully it wasn’t. Red was in no shape to fly, but her emergency lights were on and if Keith concentrated he could feel her presence. Even after being the Black Paladin and spending a lot of time with the Blade, Keith knew that, if needed, Red would respond to him. 

While Keith was digging his way through the cabinets Lance started to stir. Opening his eyes Lance immediately winced at the lights. Hands moving to his head as he curled back into himself. Lance was starting to panic; he had no idea what was going on. 

Lance willed himself and his headache to relax. As the throbbing subsided Lance shifted to sit; he was pulled up onto a chair behind where he laid. Looking at who helped him onto the chair, Lance was met with another person holding him by his arms and Lance was sure that this man was the only thing keeping him from tilting sideways again. He gently eased Lance to lean against the backrest. The man was beautiful. Long black hair framed his face perfectly, eyes that looked almost purple in this lighting, the extremely light freckles dusting his face. Lance could feel that this boy was important to him.

“....ce. La…” 

Pain flared, attacking more of Lance’s body than he originally thought was hurt. Ringing started up in his ears, there was throbbing that came from somewhere near his shoulder, and blood dropped from his forehead.

“Lanc…er me!” 

Where am I?

A comfort coming from somewhere familiar. Deep in the outer reaches of Lance’s mind. A light rumble: it's going to be okay.

Just as Lance was gonna place the feeling the boy in front of him moved to whip the blood from his forehead causing him to hiss at the stinging pain. 

Lance’s attention was brought to his knees where the man had rested a med kit on them. It was full of these packets packed in as tight as they could be. The man wrestled with all the supplies he needed and went to work on cleaning and bandaging Lance’s forehead. It was definitely deep enough to consider stitches, but he smeared some goo over it that seemed to stop the bleeding. 

After he was done he placed a kiss lightly over the bandage. 

Lance’s eyes blown wide stared at the man who pulled back only to panic again at the sight of his expression, “Oh my god, I’m sorry does it still hurt?” 

Does it hurt?

“Lance? Does it still hurt?” The man was so close Lance could feel his breath ghost his forehead as he finished bandaging it. Lance shook his head lightly, “Does anything else hurt?” 

Lance couldn’t focus on what he was saying. He was starting to take in his surroundings, eyes darted across the wreckage. Panic started to set in as he realized that he had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he was sitting in what he assumed was a pilot’s chair and there was a man that seemed to know his name. 

“Lance!” A hand on his chest brought Lance back to the present making him realize that he’s hyperventilating. “Lance, breath with me!”

Breathing with the man Lance felt the panic ease. At least he knew what was going on. Hopefully.

“Hey, are you with me?” Lance’s eyes snapped to the voice locking eyes with him. This seemed to set panic into his company, “Woah, Lance what’s wrong?” 

“I don’t know where….how….” Lance started but failed to finish because he didn’t know where to start.

“Lance, we were hit by a Galran cruzer on our way to Arkaza. I’m not sure where we are, but Red isn’t completely off line so that’s something.” He explained, like it would make all the sense in the world. 

“What?” 

“How does your head feel? Follow my finger.” He seemed to think Lance was on the same page as him, when he was completely lost. Lance followed his finger as instructed.

When the man was satisfied, Lance pushed himself off the back of the chair unsure of what to do. Closing his eyes Lance pushed himself to remember any of those forgin words. Galran? Arkaza? Red the color?

“Lance, seriously tell me what’s wrong.” He worried reaching out for Lance’s hand which he grasped before Lance could even think of pulling it away. “Is it your shoulder?”

“No….well yeah….but who….who are you? Where am I? Why did you kiss me? What is a Arkaza? Galran?” Lance was so confused by this point he was unsure if anything could confuse him any more than he already was. 

“What do you mean who….oh! No, no, no.” He muttered, “Okay, what is the last thing you remember?” 

Thinking back wasn’t difficult, it was putting into words that had him stuttering, “Home….leaving fro…. from Cuba….the plane….”

The man waited for Lance to finish but once it was clear that Lance was done he sighed, “Plane from Cuba? Lance, that had to be years ago! Maybe, I’m not sure how long we’ve been up here.” 

“Years!” Lance’s head was spinning trying to put two and two together but still nothing made sense. “What do you mean up here?” 

His expression hardened form thought before saying, “Lance, I’ll answer your questions later. I don’t want to overwhelm you with information, but slowly I’ll fill you in. You do need to know that right now we are stranded and have enough supplies to last a while. But I need you to be patient while I try to figure out how to contact help.”

“We’re stranded?” Lance’s throat tightened in panic again before the man took his other hand. 

“Yes, but listen we are not far from where there is help but we can’t get there ourselves so we need to stay calm. I’m gonna try and fix our communication. Okay?” After Lance nodded he said, “I’m Keith and we um….work together. Right now we are on an assignment. You hit your head really hard, but as far as your suit scan says you are able to sleep since you’ve been awake long enough. Come with me, I'll show you where you can lay down.”  
________

Once Keith was done helping Lance to the cot in Red’s storage area he walked back into the cockpit where Lance’s helmet lay next to his chair. It’s cracked and the glass was shattered where Lance had hit his head. Keith had the urge to throw it at something, break it. 

His memories of them are gone. From the Garrison, going into space, Voltron, their small family, and months of dating. Kieth was so glad he didn’t just blurt out that he was Lance’s boyfriend. Lance didn’t come out as bisexual for awhile after arriving at the Garrison. It would only cause more panic right now. At the time of Lance’s last memory Keith knows Lance was heading to the Garrison. It was the only time he’d flown on Earth. On a good day Keith loved that Lance was lively and carried the conversation, telling everyone about himself and anything that came to mind, but today Keith has never been more grateful of that fact. 

Bringing his gaze back to the helmet Keith sighed and pulled it close to his ear while pressing the emergency button on the coms. 

“This is Keith. Does anyone copy?” 

He waited and tried again, nothing but static filled the silence. All the possibilities were rushing in and out of his head. Where were the Galra? They were sure to be close and with Red not in flying condition there wasn’t going to be much movement. Keith thought he could try to contact possible inhabitants of the planet they landed on….that was till Keith realized they were on something more like a moon. More than likely there wasn’t anyone here to help. 

The others will know soon something is wrong. The Arkazaians will contact them and tell them Lance and Keith haven't arrived. They weren’t too far from their planet based on the readings Red was, thankfully, supplying. 

Sitting in the pilot seat Keith reached out for Red. She was weak but still there. “Hey, Red, I know you need to rest but can you send a distress signal for the team?”

Red purred in the back of his mind and Keith saw the lights on one side of the dash come alive. Quickly he reached to hit the correct buttons. Thank you.

Keith waited for a while before he peeked into the storage room where Lance was resting and saw that he was sleeping. As quietly as he could, he made his way over to the back where he gathered food, water, blankets, and anything he could salvage from the wreckage, placing them in storage compartments near their cots. 

When Keith was done Lance was still sound asleep. Keith did a full body scan finding that his shoulder was badly bruised, it was probably painful. Through all the panic it was hard to keep everything on track; much less someone who doesn’t know what’s going on. He winced as Lance rolled over onto his bad shoulder, his face scrunched up in pain. Keith gently Lance onto his back. His face finally relaxed again as he settled. 

Keith sat on the floor next to Lance, starting to panic. He doesn’t know how long they’ve been here or if any of the distress signals were being received by the castle. He hoped that Red’s was strong enough to reach them before the Galra ultimately came back for them. Their ship had to have been damaged in the collision so they were probably regrouping, giving the team time to make it to them before the Galra did. 

Thankfully the moon they landed on seemed deserted. He would love for there to be friendly aliens, but he’d rather not deal with the potential of hostile aliens. The temperature seemed to be pretty cool and dry, one less thing for Keith to deal with. He was grateful. 

Shiro would definitely be a huge help right now. Keith wasn’t even sure what to do or say around the one person he’s been able to open up to in the last few months. Lance wasn’t going to believe Keith when he eventually told him what had happened, where they are, and what they are.

Keith eventually moved from the floor to check the systems in the cockpit before returning to his own cot to rest, wishing he was in Lance’s arms instead.

Sleep didn’t come easy.  
________

Keith woke to distress noises coming from somewhere off to his side. He reached out to pull Lance to his side but his hand never found him. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked to see why Lance wasn’t in bed.

As soon as Keith remembered the situation they were in he shot up and was by Lance’s side in a second. Lance’s face was scrunched in pain. What made Keith more worried was that he couldn’t see a physical cause. He wasn’t lying on his injured shoulder, his head wasn’t bleeding anymore. Meaning it had to be internal or mental.

“Lance.” Keith shook his shoulder causing Lance to sit abruptly clutching his shoulder, eyes wide. Keith then realized how dumb he was because he had shook Lance’s injured shoulder. 

“Oh god. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it hurt you.” Keith said apologetically, and went for the med kit to pull out a pain relief patch sticking it on the inside of his flight suit just below the back of his neck, near the bruise. It caused Lance to blush, Keith soon after he realized that may be a little weird. 

“It’s okay.” Lance’s voice was quiet and unsure.

“Nightmare?” Keith asked impatiently, hoping it was something easily taken care of.

“N-no” He seemed to contemplate what he was going to say. “I was back on the plane?”

“What do you mean?” So not easily taken care of.

“I was just back on the plane to the Garrison.” Lance insisted locking eyes with Keith to emphasize his truthfulness.

“You dreamt that you were on a plane?” He asked. “Wait….you mean like your last memory?”

“Yeah, like it picked up from my last memory.” Lance rubbed his arm, Keith could tell he was having an internal debate, it was better to just let him sort it out on his own.

Lance couldn’t tell what was reality. Both felt so real, like he was living in the moment in both places. There was nothing to distinguish one from the other. How long was he ‘sleeping’? Awake? Away from Keith. Looking around there was nothing to tell time. That’s odd.

“How long was I sleeping?” Lance looked to Keith who was already looking at him, face sporting a light blush.

“Um-about three hours now.” Three hours was not enough time to get to the Garrison from Cuba. Once he determined that here with Keith was much more real, he noticed here was much more tactile than being on the plane. Lance, however, can’t help but want to be on that plane heading to his dream school. He quickly brushed off that thought because it was selfish and unfair to Keith and whoever else was in his life now. Maybe he’d graduated and they were working. Right?

Keith’s expressions changed again. Worry? Sadness?  
Lance couldn’t place it. Keith seemed to be trying to tell him something but couldn’t bring himself to say it. Lance wasn't sure he’d believe much more. There is so much he’s missing, the cracks wouldn’t be filled until he could remember. Like earlier the way Keith treats him nagged at Lance. It was almost like a boyfri...no Keith would have said something, right? He knows Keith is important to him, but Lance wasn’t even out to anyone. Was he? Lance started to panic again. Did he come out sometime in the years he’s missing? 

“Hey, Lance, what’s wrong? Do you need another pain patch?” Keith moved to grab Lance’s hand, but quickly redirected it to reach for the med kit that sat at Lance’s feet.

“No, I’m not in pain.” Lance waved him off, hoping Keith would let the subject drop.

“Okay, let me know if you do.” Keith said as if he was not convinced Lance was alright. Keith sat contemplating what to do now. He knew Lance was going to ask Keith to tell him what happened soon, but Keith had no idea where to start. There was so much that’s happened and Keith doesn’t want Lance to become overwhelmed, that’ll cause panic.

“Ca-can you fill me in?” Lance asked quietly, right on time.

“Yeah, what do you want to know? I don’t want to overwhelm you.” Keith said hoping honest was the right path. 

“I’m sure.” Lance gave a small reassuring smile, one that brought his shoulders up sheepishly, “How about just the really important stuff?”

Keith moves to sit on the floor near Lance’s feet so he didn’t have to meet Lance's eye. “Okay, so you attended the Garrison. You started out as a cargo pilot then moved onto being a fighter pilot. Your crew was you, Hunk, and Pidge…”

“Wait! Hunk, you know Hunk? Is he here?” Lance interrupted, looking relieved to hear a familiar name.

“Yes, I know Hunk. He….um also works with us. He is with the people that I mentioned can help.” Keith explained, Lance nodded and motioned for Keith to keep explaining. “So I’m assuming that you don’t know Pidge but you met her at the Garrison. We are currently working in a small group of seven people working to help people. The Galra, they are trying to expand their empire.”

“I have never heard of Galra. An Empire on Earth? Is it like a new gang?” Lance asked, and Keith had to stop himself from snorting at Lance’s genuine curiosity. 

“Um, no they expand over many planets. People on Earth don’t know that there is a very intelligent life living on many different planets. Much less one expanding over so many planets.” Keith explained slowly, hoping Lance will understand what he's trying to convey.

“So we're in space?” 

“Yes, we left Earth in a hurry and that was a long time ago.” Keith’s heart clenched at the crumpled expression Lance’s face formed. 

Tears started rolling down his face, “The Garrison sent us? Does my family know I’m okay?”

“No, we were brought into space during a time where we were just training. You never graduated because we left Earth in alien tech. In a short period of time. I’m sorry…. your family doesn’t know where you are.” Keith knew Lance took a long time to come to terms with his family situation, now he was having to go through it again. Lance started to cry harder falling forward toward Keith. Keith grabbed him into a hug before he could fall into the floor. Lance allowed himself to be buried in Keith's shirt while he cried,not caring that he was in his teammates lap. 

“They probably think I’m dead!” He sobbed. “Keith, I need to go back, send them a message, tell them I’m okay!”

“We can’t, I’m sorry, Lance, we have no way to contact anyone from Earth. Plus it is too dangerous we could lead the Galra to Earth, to your family. We can’t risk even trying to contact them.” Keith explained, his heart breaking for the boy who was experiencing this heartbreak for a second time. 

Lance just sobbed harder and clenched his hands into Keith's shirt, head resting on his shoulder. Keith pulled him as close as he dared but had to resist kissing his head, telling him he’s still loved, and his family would understand. That they wouldn’t blame him for how things went. But with Lance not knowing Keith's his boyfriend it would make things more complicated right now, Lance didn’t need that. Don’t get him wrong Keith is going to tell Lance, but not now.

Keith held Lance until his sobs subsided and Lance pulled back, sitting back on his cot, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it weird.” 

Keith shook his head. “Lance, it’s okay. We’ve been through a lot. To be honest I can tell you how many times one of our teammates have cried in front of each other. Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna try the coms again, I’ll give you some time.”

Lance nodded and laid back sighing. Keith pulled himself into his feet leaving the storage area for the cockpit. Before he stepped out of the storage area he looked back to see Lance curled up on his good shoulder with his eyes closed. Keith's heart breaks again at Lance’s expression.

Just as expected the Galra wasted no time to come pick up their prize. Looking out the window Keith saw something making its way towards them through the fog that the moon now was saturated in. He studied them. Tall, thin, and carrying something. He knew it was more than likely the Galra. They had to know where Lance and Keith crashed so he’s not surprised, just disappointed they didn’t have more time.

Keith watched as the fog cleared from around the soldiers. He cursed when he saw they weren’t just robots but some actually live soldiers. Okay, all he had to do was keep Lance and Red safe. Keith could do that. 

Keith sprinted to the storage area where his blade sat under his pillow. Lance was startled to see Keith frantically pulling his shoes on and strapping his balde to his back, “Keith? What’s going on?”

“Listen, I need to take care of some Galran soldier so please stay here and don’t come outside. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“What? Soldiers?” Lance screeched, “No, I’ll come he….”

“No, Lance, you have to stay here.” Keith said as he fastened his Blade armor, he was really wishing he hadn’t taken a nap. Before Lance could say anything else, “They are looking to kill not capture. You don’t remember our training and I can’t let you risk yourself for me again.”

“Kill!? But you can’t go alo….again?” Lance asked eyes searching for answers in Keith’s face, things won’t get more confusing would they?

“You….” Keith hesitated, not knowing how this information will be received, “You lost your memory protecting me when we collided.” 

“Keith,” Lance sighed, “I know you're important to me in some way or another and I’m sure I had a really good reason to do what I did. Even if I saved you once doesn’t mean you need to repay me. Let me help.”

“It’s not about repaying you. It’s about your safety and I can’t risk that.” Keith said, ending the conversation. Keith pulled his hood over his head, the mask materialized as he did. He took a little joy in seeing Lance’s shocked expression. “Stay put, I will be back soon.”

“You can’t stop me from watching though.” Lance mutters, anger once again surfacing pushing away the shock. He then made his way to the cockpit to watch from the massive windows. Till he couldn’t take it anymore.

Keith made his way to the mouth of Red, jumping to the ground just as the Galra came close enough to touch Reds paw. 

“We’ve found them, send the fleat to pick up the lions.” Thankfully, Keith has the element of surprise as the soldiers hadn't noticed him. 

Keith was able to quietly take out four of the soldiers before the other realized they were missing part of their crew. “Hand yourselves over and you won’t get hurt.”

Keith silently scoffed at the fact they thought he was idiotic enough to believe that they wouldn’t hurt him. Or Lance.

“Come on out, you’ve been fighting for long enough.”

Keith knew he wasn’t done fighting until the Galra were no more. But, yeah, he agreed this war needed to end soon. With the Galra on the losing side. He moved closer to the edge of the lion’s other paw where he was hiding ready to strike. The Galra he aimed for was ready for his attack bringing his sword up to meet Keith’s. 

Keith struck again and again hoping to edge him out, but he also had to worry about the other soldiers closing in from all sides. He takes hit after hit as they all join to take down the Marmorite. Bruised and bleeding, he is hoping he can buy as much time for help to come as possible.

Lance has had enough. He doesn’t care if Keith wants or doesn’t want his help he’s going to get it. Lance makes his way over to where Keith stored his armor (now less confused on why he was wearing it) and slipped it on as best he could. He smiled to himself once it was on, thanking his muscle memory. He frowned when he realized the helmet was broken beyond use. He didn’t pout for long, knowing that Keith needed help, and just worked with what he’s got.

Following the path Keith took to the outside Lance was able to make it to the ground of an unfamiliar moon. Sneaking around where the large metal paws were laying on the ground Lance, gripping tightly onto the tool (of unknown use), peaks around to gauge the situation. 

Keith was in mid battle with the one who seemed to be the leader, while the rest were creating a border around the fight. If Keith got close to the outside they stuck hard, causing Keith to lose his balance or gain another cut. 

Seeing Keith in pain brought an odd feeling to Lance’s chest. He wanted nothing but to make the fighting stop. But he knew that it wasn’t going to be easy because he couldn't talk them out of fighting. They fought with purpose and hatred. The flight to kill. They wanted to kill. It was as if they were ingrained with the fact that killing was okay.

Lance, in that moment, decided that no matter what he was fighting alongside his friend. 

Letting his muscles determine his movements Lance pushed out from behind the paw to smack the closet soldier on the back of his head. Not caring if his form was nowhere near correct, it did the job. The soldier crumpled to the ground as Lance cried out for his injured shoulder. Mentally kicking himself for forgetting his nasty bruise. Lance then saw they were machines not even real living beings. It lifted most of the guilt from his shoulders.

Lance didn’t quit at Keith’s yelling for him to go back to Red or the guards who advanced. Lance was able to stop four of the six guards while Keith’s focus remind on their leader. 

“Holy crow!” The tool Lance was using was then cut in half by a glowing sword that one of the soldiers wielded. Lance’s eyes went wide and the Galra, he assumed, advanced on him again. Dodging was his only option till he was able to find another weapon. 

“Lance! Lance your belt. Touch your belt.” Keith gritted, teeth clenched in concentration.

Lance nodded and touched the side of his belt while dodging strikes from the soldiers. Within seconds his fingers come to grasp something. For a split second Lance was distracted by the object that appeared in his hand. A grunt sounded pulling Lance to watch his opponent swig at him. At the last second Lance dogged but the sword was already too close, cutting a gash across Lance’s thigh. 

“Lance, look out.” Keith shouted he was also dodging strike after strike, labored breathing coming from both parties.

Lance instinctively pulled his hands over his head. Lance felt more than heard the cling of metal hitting metal. Slowly Lance looks up to see in his hand the weird object turned into a sword. Smiling Lance silently thanked Keith for the help.

He pushed against the Galra causing it to lose balance. As the robot fell Lance struck again piercing through its chest. His attention quickly turned to the last metal guard and attacked, again letting his muscles do all the work. 

Once Lance was finished with the guards, he found Keith staring at him in amazement while the man he’d been fighting lay motionless on the ground. Lance’s eyes went wide; that man wasn’t a robot. Dark blood stained the ground surrounding the fallen soldier. Keith noticed Lance staring and quickly stepped to obstruct Lance’s view. 

“Lance, hey, look here.” Lance’s eyes met Keith’s as he pulled his hood back revealing his face, gripping Lance’s arm to ground him, “This will be hard to hear but we are at war and we have killed before. I realize this may feel like this is the first you're seeing this kind of thing. I know it’s not a pleasant feeling, so please talk to me okay? It’s better than bottling it up.” Keith chuckled, “You actually thought me that.”

Keith now fully had Lance’s attention, “I helped you through stuff like this?”

“Yes, you did.” He affirmed.

“I don’t ev….” Lance starts but fails to keep speaking. Keith gently guided Lance back into Red and made his way to where the med kit lay next to Lance’s cot.

Lance plopped onto the cot dragging his hands down his face. “We’re fighting a war?”

“Yes.”

“HUNK IS FIGHTING IN A WAR?” Lance sat staring at Keith with an expression that said tell me it’s not true.

“He is.” Keith came to stand in front of Lance holding supplies to clean and bandage yet another cut Lance acquired from this trip. “And he is amazing at what he does.”

“I can’t believe this. When you said we help people I didn’t realize we were at war! I mean, I assumed we were more like cops than anything.” Lance’s hands again scrubbed at his face, “Hunk, he is so caring, why did this have to happen to him?”

“I don’t know but we all do what we have to in times of crisis. Hunk is no different.” Keith gestures to the cut on Lance’s leg, “Do you want to or do you want me to?”

“I think you should, I don’t know what half of the things you’re holding are for.” Lance admitted, swallowing the embarrassment.

Keith nodded and pulled back the fabric that sat on the outside of the gash. Lance winced as he tugged it out of the way. Keith started cleaning it as best he could without wasting the water they have stored on the lions. He spreaded this clear paste, that works kinda like glue, to stop the bleeding and prevent it from getting larger. Lance asked about everything Altean, thankfully translated to English, as Keith dressed the cut and Keith explained to the best of his ability what they do and how they work.

“So we're really in space?” Lance asked rhetorically. Keith nodded and sat back on his heels before moving to dress the cuts that he gained from the fight.

“You should eat and drink, all the packets are in the compartment next to your cot.” Keith directed, Lance moved to grab water and food wincing as twisted putting pressure on his shoulder.

As Lance ate he thought about his family again. About how worried he is for them. About how much they worried for him right now. He felt horrible for leaving without saying goodbye, but he’s sure he did it for the right reason. He wants to have his memories back so bad there are so many missing pieces. Too many questions that won’t make up for lost time.

There are so many things he wanted to ask Keith but was too afraid of the answer he’ll get. Lance wanted to ask if he’s killed? Even though Keith said he has but he just couldn’t wrap his mind around hurting someone even if they aren’t the same species. How many he’s killed? He hoped it isn't as large a number as he fears. If he’s a help to the team he’s on? What is his relationship with Keith? 

Lance settled for an easier question, “Who’s the seven people you were talking about?”

Keith stopped and looked at Lance, calculating his answer, “Well us. Then there is Hunk and Pidge as I mentioned. Shiro. And two Alteans Allura and Coran. We make up a team called Voltron.”

“Wait. Shiro as in the best pilot of his generation, Shiro?” Lance asked, Keith’s surprised that he didn’t ask about the aliens before anyone else.

“Yeah. We, as in you and me, carried him out of quarantine. He was there because he was lost in space and returned in a pod. After we pulled him out we left for space with him, Hunk, and Pidge.” Keith explained, resuming work on his cuts.

“Alteans?” Lance asked, “Are they aliens? What do they look like?”

“They look like us with small markings under their eyes and pointy ears.” Keith said, reaching for his shoulder which he was having problems with.

“Do you need help?” Lance asked, setting aside his packets.

“If you don’t mind.” 

“Nope. You helped me, I can help you.” 

So Keith walked Lance through the steps and what order to do them in. Once Lance was done Keith turned to face him, “Thank you, for coming to help earlier.”

“No problem. I didn’t like seeing you….” Lance cut himself off before he finished, turning to pack the med kit away.

Keith’s mind instantly raced through the possibilities of the rest of that sentence. Seeing you struggle? Fighting? He desperately wanted Lance to remember him and what they are. Keith was unsure how long he’s going to last without telling Lance.

“Seeing me what?” Keith dared to ask. He’s not sure he wanted Lance to answer.

“Hurt. I didn’t like seeing you hurt, but I’m sure the war has hurt you plenty. I’m sure I’ve seen it before.” Lance said quietly, fiddling with the last on the packs from the med kit.

“You haven’t, none of the people on our team have even seen half of it and I’m glad you guys haven’t.” Keith said truthfully, with some guilt. He knows it’s important to rely on those around him, another thing Lance has taught him.

“What do you mean? Don’t you depend on the team?” Lance looked at him silently asking Keith to say he does and has.

“When we first started, no. I hid most of the cuts, bruises, and one minor break.” Keith chuckled at his past stupidity, “I even left the team for a while to train and help a rogue group of Galra before I really started to rely on the team.”

“Galra!? Aren’t we fighting them?” Lance asked.

“Yeah but there is a group we are allied with that helps us fight the Empire. Not all Galra are evil, if they were I wouldn’t be here now.” Keith said, hoping to ease into another complex part of their time in space.

“What? You're an alien? I thought they were purple? Like the guys we just fought?”

“Yes, I am. Yes, they are purple.” Lance started to say something but Keith cut him off, “No, I don’t know why I’m not purple. My Dad is human, that's all I can connect my paleness to.”

“How’d you know that’s what I was going to ask?” Lance chuckled at Keith’s joke.

“Because that was one of the first questions you asked me when we found out.” Keith explained.

“How long have we known?” Lance finally settled into curiosity. 

“About a year and yes people on our team weren’t happy about it. Some believed that I was spying on them and conspiring to kill all of you. Thankfully, you actually helped them see that I wasn’t the killer they thought I was just because of my heritage.” Keith said, he hoped he wasn’t giving too much away by sounding too mushy.

“I helped you a lot didn’t I?” Lance laughed, “Who helped me?”

“You and Shiro helped me a lot. I think you went to Hunk a lot but you also started coming to me recently.” Keith said, sure he’d gone too far.

Lance just smiled.


	3. I Don’t Hate You and You Don’t Hate Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance remembers his rivalry with Keith and they get more unwanted visitors.

It’s been two days since Lance and Keith have crashed into the barren moon. 

Lance has focused on sleeping to relive more of his missing memories. More of his family, acceptance to the Garrison, leaving for the Garrison with Hunk and arriving to meet Pidge, which confused Lance greatly. Keith had said Pidge was a girl, but Lance distantly remembers Pidge from the Garrison to be a boy. This led to a lengthy conversation about why Pidge was undercover at the Garrison because of the Kerberos Mission. 

The dreams however didn’t seem to be in order. It was like he was having random dreams from the same time period, the one he’s seen all of then the time period changes. 

A few of Lance’s more intense dreams left him thrashing and talking in his sleep. Which had worried Keith into waking him. Lance had asked Keith to leave him even if he looked like he was having a nightmare. He wanted to make sure that he witnessed the full dream to gain some things back from his memory loss.

His most recent dream brought something Lance would’ve never guessed would come with memories of Keith. Hate. Fighting. Betrayal. 

“Keith?” He asked, sounding upset, just waking up from another dream.

Keith moved quickly to his side and felt his chest tighten at the look on Lance’s face, “What’s wrong? Was it a nightmare this time?” 

“Keith, we….we hate each other and you didn’t tell me. This whole time I wondered if we were tog….” Lance froze, eyes wide. Keith reached out to reassure him, but Lance batted his hand away.

“Lance, look we didn’t start off on the right foot but believe me we did become friends.” More than friends. But Keith knew that wasn't the right thing to bring up now. 

“Friends? We were screaming at each other. We said hurtful things. I-” Lance stood cutting himself off and made his way to the pilot's chair. 

“Lance….”

“Just,” Lance said sharply, “give me some time.”

Lance’s reaction was close to how he invisioned this conversation going. He just hoped that Lance would listen to him when he said they were friends. Keith sighed leaning against the side of Lance’s cot. He needs to tell Lance about their relationship. Lance probably will get mad about Keith not telling him sooner any ways. He has to tell him now, Lance deserves to know. He’ll just sit Lance down and explain what happened between them during their time in space. Keith just needed to think of the right thing to say. He didn’t want to strain their new relationship, something that meant the universe to Keith.

Keith decided to allow Lance to come to terms with a bad part in their past. Then he can tell him they really did make amends, becoming something more in the process. He’ll share his memories of them with Lance and they’ll both feel better, at least he hoped they would. 

As Keith waited for Lance to come around, he went back to sorting packets of food and water to count their rations. He thanked whatever powers there was, that Hunk insisted on sending snacks with them. 

“Keith!” Lance shouted.

Keith’s blood ran cold as he climbed to his feet, running to the cockpit where Lance was staring wide eyed outside. 

“Crap. This can’t be happening.” Keith muttered, taking in the sight before them. Galra. A lot of them. Two cruzers and a decent size ones at that. 

Kieth rushed to where Lance’s shattered helmet lay on the floor. Pressing it to his ear he held down the emergency comms and shouted, “This is Keith. Voltron do you come in?” 

He tried again watching as the Galran ship loomed over Red. There was no good way out of this; unless a miracle was waiting to happen to them.

“Lance hold the controls and reach out, in your mind, and ask Red for help.” Keith instructed frantically. As he again tried the comms.

Lance unsure what to do closed his eyes, asking Red for help. He tried to explain they were in danger, but he got a feeling that Red, whoever that was, knew exactly what was happening. A wave of defiance rushed through Lance's mind.

Why won’t you help?

You are not well enough to fly.

“Lance? What’s she saying?” Keith asked, pushing what seemed to Lance like random buttons. 

“She said I’m not well enough to fly.” Lance said, frowning.

“Here let me try. She may still connect to me.” Lance was instantly out of the chair letting Keith take the seat. After a few stressful moments the dash lit up. 

“Yes!” Keith said, “I’ve missed you girl.” 

Keith maneuvered Red to stand, taking in their surroundings before they could fly. Just as Red stood fully, they were being pulled into one of the Galran ships. Keith lost some movement to the beam and quickly tried everything he could to break its hold. 

“Keith someone’s talking!” Lance said, staring at the helmet in his hands. 

Keith smiled, gesturing for Lance to hand it over.

“This Keith does anyone copy?” Keith asked, for the who knows what time that morning.

“Keith!” Hunk’s voice sounded through the comms. “Guys, I’ve got Keith. Hang tight we're almost there! Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah we’re fine. Hunk, the Galra are here.” Keith reported.

“Yeah, we saw ‘em.” Hunk said, grimly, “We’re only a few minutes out.” 

“Sounds good.” The line went dead as the helmet was gently tossed to Lance. Keith turned to Lance, “They’re on their way.” 

“Good.” Was all the reply he got.

Hunk and the others didn’t disappoint. They were pushing back the Galra within minutes, allowing Keith to move Red from the pull of the energy beam.

“Lance, are you good to form Voltron?” Shiro asked, it was quite having come from Lance’s helmet. 

Keith gestured to Lance to hand the helmet back again, “It’s, Keith, and yeah.”

“Keith?” Pidge asked, “Where’s Lance? Is he hurt?” 

“He’s here Pidge, just not fit to fly.” Keith explained, knowing it was better to keep it short right now. They, thankfully, let it drop since Keith was the one to fret most over Lance in the case of injuries. They formed Voltron and with its strength two Galran cruisers stood no chance.

As they disbanded Keith saw an ion cannon charged, aimed at Red. Keith knew they were too close to escape and opted to pull Lance to his chest and said, “I’m sorry, I wanted to explain that we are together and I know now's not a good time to tell you this. But I have to tell you, I love you.”

Before Lance could even comprehend what Keith was saying everything burned. Keith will never forget the agonizing screams that echoed in that moment.


	4. Those Three Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon returning to the Castle Lance has to deal with Keith’s announcement of love while watching him heal.

The haziness in his head went away the instant he realized he was falling. Fast. He didn’t have any control over hitting the ground.

“Lance! Oh gosh! Sorry, I should have stood closer.” A familiar voice apologized from in front of him. 

Looking up, Lance felt relief at the sight of his best friend, “Hunk?” 

“Yeah, you okay? Your guy’s couples vacation didn’t go so well huh?” Hunk laughed, helping Lance off the floor.

“Couples? You mean….” Lance looked around taking in the sight of the machine he just fell out of and shivered at the thought of being stuck in there. Looking over to the machine next to his Keith stood suspended, eyes closed and burns, bruises, and cuts littered his body. 

Lance doesn’t know what happened to them but it was agonizingly painful. He couldn’t imagine going through that again. Keith even though he was sleeping looked like he was in pain.

I don’t like seeing you hurt.

….I love you.

Before he knew it, he was standing in front of Keith’s sleeping form. Tears streamed down Lance’s face. He was angry and hurt and confused. How could Keith not tell him something so important? He also doesn’t understand because they hated each other. Well they must have become friends like Keith insisted to become something more. He knocked a fist lightly against Keith’s….machine? If they were together, that’s where the feeling of importance came from. He was important to Lance because they loved each other?

Lance couldn’t lie. Love was the perfect label to use for his feelings towards the boy who stood hurt before him. Lance wanted nothing more than to make sure that he remembered them. 

“....ance. Hey, Lance. Coran said he’ll be fine, he just is going to take longer to heal.” Hunk said, placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Lance only nodded, not trusting himself to not rant about what he was feeling. Hurt. Worry. Sadness. And so much more.

“Oh, Lance. If this is about the mission it is not your fault. No one knew about the Galra being so close.” Hunk tried to soothe. 

“Hunk,” Lance said, seriously tuning to him, “I don’t remember the last few years.”

“You don’t wha….your concussion.” Hunk concluded, “The scan said it was bad but we didn’t even think about amnesia.” 

“Does everyone know Keith and I are a couple?” Lance asked, eyes not looking away from Keith once he turned back to face him.

“Um, I’m not sure who you mean by everyone but yeah.” Hunk said, thoughtfully.

“I don’t remember him.” Lance said, unable to contain his sobs. He cried for his lost memories. His family. His team. Keith. 

Hunk just stepped forward, hugging him with small words of reassurance. They stood there until his sobs subsided, “I’m going to get Coran. He’s going to make sure you're fully healed. Will you be okay?”

Lance noodded sitting in front of Keith, Hunk frowning on the way out.

I love you.

Lance wondered if that was Keith's first time telling Lance he loved him. From the timing to the way he said it, he assumed it was. Lance now understands why he feels Keith is so important to him, he was in love with Kieth. He knew, he felt, before he lost his memories he loved Keith. It felt ingrained, in a way no one could take it away from him.

Love. They love each other and Keith didn’t tell Lance. He lied about them being friends, they were so much more. Staring at the Keith Lance doesn’t notice the team walking into the med bay. As the group looked at him and they all felt Lance’s grief, anger, and confusion. 

Hunk stepped up to Lance, gently guided Lance away from Keith. Lance went willingly even though he didn’t want to leave his spot on the floor.

“So Lance, this is Coran, Shiro, and Pidge. I don’t know who you remember but this is our team.” Hunk said, softly bringing Lance out of his thoughts.

“Lance, come on over here we’ll get you fixed up.” Coran said cheerily, walking towards the beds in the med bay. Lance eyes down cast as he walked over to sit on the bed.

“Hunk, how much does he remember?” Pidge asked quietly, as she and Shiro made their way to stand by Hunk.

“I don’t know. He does remember me, but we’ve been friends for most of our lives. I think he doesn’t remember going to the Garrison or being in space.” Hunk answered, deciding not to mention their previous conversation.

“The Garrison, that was years ago.” Pidge said, “That means he doesn’t remember me or Shiro or Keith….oh no, he doesn’t know they’re together.” 

“He knows. I don’t know if Keith told him or if it was what I said, but he knows.” Hunk assured, rubbing his arm.

“Keith must have filled him in, but I doubt he’d say anything about their relationship given that he probably felt Lance wouldn’t like him if he said anything.” Shiro reasoned.

“Yeah, but Keith also is way more comfortable around Lance. That wouldn’t have changed. We can't assume he didn’t tell him anything.” Pidge concluded.

“We should figure out what Lance does know so we can help.” Shiro decided, then moved towards where Coran was scanning Lance.

“Well your scans are showing no signs of brain damage,” Coran explained, “we’ll have to wait for your memories to return.”

Lance nodded eyes returning to the floor.

“Lance, why don’t you come to the lounge and we’ll talk.” Hunk said, smiling sadly.

Lance only nodded, waking quietly behind Hunk all the way to the lounge. 

As Lance and Hunk walked into the lounge he asked. “Hunk, how long have we been in space?”

“Oh….um we’re not entirely sure. Maybe a year and a half.” He replied with a worried glance towards his friend, as they all took a seat on the couches. 

“A year and a half?” Lance asked, shocked, then muttered, “My family. My home.”

“Lance, I know it’s hard but we’ll get through this. Together, as a team.” Shiro said, knowing fully well that things were far from okay.

“And Keith, he lied to me.” Lance said, “He kissed me and never told me why.”

“He kissed you? Did you ask why?” Hunk asked, as if he didn’t believe Lance.

“I did ask….I never got an answer.” Lance answered, remembering how confused he was about so many things at the time.

“Why? Did he just wave it off?”

“No, I had asked so many questions. He didn’t really answer any of them, he just explained the basics later.” Lance said, stiffening on the couch waiting for the rest of the team to make their way there.

“So, tell us what you can remember and hopefully we can fill some of the gaps.” Shiro smiled, trying to not come off as pushy.

“I….the last memory I had when I woke up was flying to the Garrison for the first time….” Lance started.

“Wait! So who do you remember the Garrison?” Pidge asked, leaning forward.

“Hold on Pidgey, I’m getting there.” Lance said, a slight spark of his personality showing through and relieving some of the team's stress. Everyone took note of the nickname he used, but no one commented. They were all caught up in what Lance had said. “When we were stranded I was having dreams and we figured out that they were memories. Starting from the plane.”

“Really? That’s fascinating. I’ve never heard of….” Pidge trailed off pulling out her computer, probably documenting Lance’s situation.

“Yes, number five is correct, that is unheard of.” Coran said, pulling at his mustache.

“Okay, science aside for a minute.” Shiro said, saving everyone from the confusing concepts that were sure to be thrown between Coran and Pidge. “Tell us where you're at now with getting your memories back.”

“From my dreams I was able to regain early memories of my time at the Garrison. Hunk and Pidge. My stupid rivalry with Keith. And I knew Shiro because of his reputation.” Lance said, quickly collecting his thoughts again. “I also know about being in space, the war, and some other important things Keith told me about.” 

“Hey, buddy, you're not missing much of your memories!” Hunk was practically beaming, “Based on how much you already picked up from your dreams it shouldn’t take too long before you have everything back.”

“Yeah, I hope you’re right.” Lance sighed, picking at the sleeve of his jacket wanting to go back to Keith, even though he’s been gone for all of fifteen minutes. “Can-can I go back to Keith now?” 

“Lance, you know Keith will be okay, right?” Shiro asked, careful not to come off too harsh and make it seem like he’s dismissing Lance’s feelings. 

“Yeah, he mentioned those machines once but I didn’t really get to ask much about them.” Lance admitted, “We-uh-the Galra came for us twice. Once before you got there and then when you came. The first time Keith mentioned wishing he had a healing pod. I’m assuming that’s what he’s in now.”

“Yup, and he’ll be ‘right as rain’ soon.” Lance started at the orange hair man. He was shocked and hit with a wave of nostalgia, “That’s the phrase, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I just didn’t think you’d know it.” Lance said, smiling.

“Come on, Lance, I’ll take you to your room and then we’ll go check on Keith.” Hunk said, standing.

As Hunk and Lance left, the rest of the team immediately started working out a plan to help Lance.  
________

It’s been two day since Lance and Keith returned to the castle, Lance couldn’t sleep. Not saying sleep came easier stranded in Red, but it did when Keith was with him. Lance felt….he didn’t know. The best way to describe it was empty. Missing memories. No Keith.

It really didn’t help that Keith’s declaration of love replay in his head. The way he looked. They way he said those three words. Someone loves Lance. Lance loves someone. Lance and Keith love each other. It definitely felt good to know, to feel, he’s loved, wanted. To have someone there for you, which Lance was sure Keith was even if he can remember. They way Keith talked about their relationship was hesitant, like he didn’t want to say much and when he did he’d drop the subject, blushing. 

Lance finally regained most of his memories from the Garrison. Sure there was something missing, a few small gaps. But now he had a better understanding of his life on Earth. Secretly he was grateful to learn how to fly again. It’s his happiest memories from the Garrison, aside from Hunk and Pidge.

Lance finally dreamt of leaving Earth and making the Castle of Lions his second home and….

Lance has dreams of Keith.

Keith stepped out of a pod hair tied in a ponytail. Smile on his face. Lance wanted to stare, but he knew he’d blow his cover. He wanted to tell Keith he had feelings for him, but he was unsure if Keith still hated him. Sure they fight, but it’s good natured now right?

“Keith before you leave, I need to tell you something.” Keith’s eyes lit up at the sight of Lance making his way into the hanger, once everyone else had left.

“What’s that?” Keith asked, face softening. Lance took the briefest moment to comment that expression to memory. Especially since it aimed at him.

“I don’t want you to go.” Lance admitted, quietly.

“Really, but I thought you didn’t really like me.” Keith asked, expression melting to confusion.

“No, I don’t hate you and I hope you don’t hate me, but the team misses you. I miss you.” Looking at the ground, Lance lost sight of Keith, hoping to cool his burning face.

“Lance, I’ll come back soon.” Keith’s boots coming into view, Lance looked back to his face seeing an extremely rare small smile creeping into his expression. “Don’t tell anyone yet, but I’ve actually started to work with Kolivan to let me stay here in between all my missions. I-I miss you, too.” 

Lance smiled and hugged Keith. After a moment Keith’s body relaxed and hugged him back. Lance never wanted it to end. When Keith pulled back Lance said, “I’ll be here when you get back.” 

“I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else.”

Lance rarely had two separate memories in one night but tonight was an exception.

“Keith!” Lance ran to the pod where Keith was just stepping out . He crashed into him causing Keith to be squished between the pod and Lance.

Keith’s arms came to encircle Lance, “I told you I’d be here.”

“And I never doubted you.” 

Even though neither could see the other’s face they both knew the other held a smile.


	5. I’m Dreaming of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is hurting. Allura has had enough(stress). Team Voltron has to travel to planet Zee to help their teammates.

Most of Lance’s dreams now were of space, mainly their little family they’ve created with Voltron. Some of just them as a team and as individuals. Hunk’s happiness. Pidge’s goofiness. Shiro’s strength. Keith’s love. Coran’s craziness. Allura’s leadership. And so much more. 

Lance really enjoys these dreams. They also taught him more about himself that he’s sure he hasn’t seen before. He learned to believe when people told him he was the glue of their family, they meant it. It was hard to believe at first, but being able to almost see himself in action makes all the difference. He enjoys being personable and relatable. Being able to hold people together in uncertain times and good times. 

Maybe reliving some of these memories wasn’t such a bad thing. Some of them were really uplifting. It allowed Lance to gain some confidence from events he probably doesn’t think about as often as he should, knowing self-doubt likes to play games. 

Thankfully he hasn’t had any dreams about the war. Lance wasn’t sure if he was ready to relive the horror of death and destruction. Keith had told him he’s killed before, but Lance just can wrap his mind around something so horrible. He honestly doesn’t want to. When he thinks of it the only image that comes to mind is the Galra Keith had fought on the moon. He would never unsee that. Knowing that they’ve killed doesn’t change Lance's views or feelings for anyone on the team. He knows that in time of war we do what we have to. What’s right. Lance right now is just enjoying the ignorance and simply trying to stay positive and optimistic. 

In the past few days Lance has been visiting Keith, hanging with the team, and taking naps. A lot of naps. They all concluded that the more Lance slept the more memories he’ll gain. They are right, only if Lance can reach REM sleep. When he napped he didn’t always get there but a majority of the time he was able to.

Due to all the sleeping Lance has had some of his best relived memories. 

Some from their rivalry. Ridiculously funny now making Lance laugh when he thought about it. 

Lance’s forehead clashed with Keith’s and they argued. Neither letting up. Both were too stubborn. 

Some deep conversations between friends. These increasing Lance’s confidence and love for his team.

“Leave the math to Pidge.”

“Buddy, you are worth so much to this team, you really are our glue.”

“Your heritage doesn’t define you, you need to define yourself.”

The pining. Again making Lance laugh, since he knows the outcome.

“I should tell him. No, I don’t even know if he’s into guys.”

The small moments that made everything feel better.

The hand that falls on his shoulder before racing to their lions.

The smile from your best friend over alien food.

The noise of tinkering he now associated with home. 

Game night.

The understanding.

“Just go for it! I know it’ll be hard, but you’ve got this.”

“You left to make me feel secure?” 

Lance was still far from remembering everything, but now more than ever he wants them back. He wants his friends back. His little family back. He wants to remember because not remembering makes Lance feel he won’t ever be quite as happy as he was before.

He wants the happiness that comes with being a part of this small makeshift space family. The happiness, want, and love that comes with being Keith’s. He wants Keith to wake up and smile at him again. To tell Keith that he loves him too. 

But nothing was as easy as snapping your fingers.  
________

Lance wasn’t as prepared to meet the Princess as he thought he was. His memories showed him a girl who he flirted with. Some who were willing to laugh at the end of the day. Will to join game night and learn Earth culture.

The Princess wasn't what he was expecting.

Allura has made the trek to Arkaza in Lance and Keith’s place after Das called to explain they hadn't arrived. Shiro told Lance that Arkaz’s communicator had called them a varga, he explained it was an hour, after they were supposed to arrive to secure an alliance. Lance felt bad that Allura had to go instead, but he understood it was normally her duty to secure alliances. Just this planet was picky and took a liking to Lance and Keith, he was told. Shiro assured Lance that he was a really good diplomat and would’ve done just fine on this mission. 

“Lance. To the bridge now.” A sharp voice sounded startling Lance, who was sitting at Keith’s pod as he read a translated Altean book. 

“Bridge?” Lance muttered, nervously. Which way was that again? He figured he’d better hurry because whoever was calling wasn’t too happy at the moment. 

Lance stood quickly, trying to make his way to the bridge. Shit, he wished his memories came with a map of the Castle. These were the main things Lance still missed, small details such as movement and direction. He had relied on one of the others to help him over the past couple of days, but he couldn’t wait for someone to come get him.

“Lance.” The voice sounded again. Only this time it wasn't over the speaker and sounded much closer. 

Turning Lance came to face Allura who didn’t look too happy. 

“Lance. Where are you going? I asked you five dobashes ago to come to the bridge.” She said, anger present in a way that filled Lance with dread. 

“I’m sorry. I was….” Lance started, only to be cut off by a waving hand.

“No, no apologies. You need to explain to me, right now, what caused you to not make it to Arkaza. We need this alliance and you are not taking things seriously. I knew it was a bad idea to send you and Keith alone, but I didn’t expect this outcome.” Allura lecturered, with no sign of stopping. He hasn’t had any dreams of the Arkaza mission, or any mission. He only really knew what the others had told him. 

“I can’t believe how irresponsible you are acting recently. Where is Keith? It seems I’ll have to get answers elsewhere since you aren’t even paying attention to a word I’m saying.” Allura was livid now. Lance on the other hand had no clue what to say. 

He felt like he was being scolded by his parents for messing up really badly. But this time he didn’t understand what he did. Was he irresponsible? Did he not care about securing the alliance? Tears were welling up as he was receiving verbal anger. He knew they crashed, but was it actually his fault did Keith lie to make him feel better. Lance knew his insecurities were creeping in making it hard to rationalize what to do, say, or think.

“Allura.” 

“And furthermore….”

“Allura!” Pidge was practically shouting at her as she finally turned to glare at Pidge who met her with one of his own. 

“What is it?” She growled, angry dropping slightly as she addressed Pidge. As she turned to Pidge, Hunk quickly made his way to Lance to offer support, as tears started to fall down Lance’s face.

“Lance has amnesia. He doesn’t remember the last few years much less the mission. And Keith, he’s in a pod.” Pidge said, voice harsh and short. “You can not blame him or Keith for not making it to Arkaza because they were attacked by the Galra. We thankfully were able to detect their distress signal that was being altered by the atmosphere of the moon they were stranded on.”

Everything went deadly silent as the Princess was processing the information she had missed because of being on Arkaza. She slowly turned to Lance, once she saw how upset he was she paled immediately.

“Lance I….I so sorry.” She said, finally letting the anger go. 

Lance just nodded, turning to head back to the med bay. 

Lance didn’t even blink as Hunk came to sit next to him. He was staring once again at Keith’s sleeping face. Hunk, thankfully, realized Lance did not want to talk. They sat in silence until Pidge and Shiro came to sit with them. 

“Lance?” A whisper from his left.

“Yeah?” He asked turning to see it was Pidge. 

“We were thinking about having a sleepover in the lounge. How does that sound?” She asked hesitantly.

Lance thought for a moment, smiled softly, “That sounds good, Pidgeon.”

She smiled. As did the rest of the team currently in the room.  
________  
“His condition isn’t getting any better.” Coran said in a hurried voice, “He’s stable, but if we can not change his course he may slip into a coma.” 

“Can we take him anywhere?” Pidge moved to stand in front of Keith, plugging in a work pad to his pod. “To a planet that specializes in medicine?”

“That’s actually a really good idea! I’ll see who’s the best fit for the situation.” Coran was already deep in thought, scrolling through his own tablet. He abruptly said, “Here! Planet Zee. They are perfect for the job. Not only do they specialize in medicine, but they have excellent trauma care and rehabilitation, including amnesia. Lance could benefit from Zee as well!”

“That does sound perfect. How long until we can get there?” She asked, assessing the information Keith’s pod provided. 

“I’ll ask Allura when we are able to jump there. At the earliest we’ll be there by tomorrow afternoon.” Coran provided. “We all need a break after we fix up our paladins. Allura especially. I’m not making excuses for her behavior towards Lance, but she is too stressed. Now she’s taken it out on the poor lad. Maybe we all could benefit from resting on a peaceful planet.” 

“I know, I could.” Pidge muttered. 

Pidge and Coran said their parting, leaving Lance to quickly move as to not be seen by an over enthusiastic Coran. He wasn’t in the mood to pretend to be in a good mood. After they both left the med bay Lance was free to go in, alone.

Burns, cuts, and bruises from the fight were almost gone, many not even leaving scars. Keith’s skin looked a normal color, well as normal as it can with blue light constantly shining around him. Lance placed a hand on Keith’s pod desperately wanting to brush his bangs from his face and see his eyes open. To see him healthy. 

“Lance?” 

Lance startled, turning to come face to face with Shiro.

“Oh, hey Shiro.” Lance goes to give him a small smile, but he assumed it looked more like a grimace. 

“Lance, are you okay?” Shiro asked, gesturing to Lance’s face. Lance reached up to his face to be met with tears he hadn’t known he was shedding. 

“Yeah, I’m just….” He started, “I’m worried.”

“We all are. What are you worried about? Specifically, I mean.” Shiro asked, from his dreams Lance knows that he and Shiro became pretty close. Shiro was someone everyone trusted and relied on, Lance was no different. Lance also knew that Shiro and Keith are like siblings. Lance also noticed there was something different about Shiro and memory Shiro. Lance just couldn’t place a finger on it. 

“Keith mainly.” He admits, “I’m having a lot of the memory dreams about the team. I have some with him, but I still don’t remember much about us, as a couple.”

“It’s good you're remembering things. I’m sure it’ll all come back soon.” Shiro said confidently.

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“What’s wrong with having your memories back?” 

“Um, there’s no wrong per say, but the more I remember the more I can’t take seeing him in there and I still don’t remem…. and I have so many questions unanswered.” Lance rambles, eyes falling back on Keith.

“Like what, maybe I can help.” 

“We’re we…. happy together?” Lance asked, nervously biting at his lip.

“Lance.” Shiro started, “Keith is happy with you. He’s told me so many times that you make him so happy. Honestly, I’ve known him for a long time and I have never seen him this open and happy.”

“Thanks, I needed to hear that.” Lance said. They stood in silence for a few minutes looking at Keith, willing him to be okay. “What-what about Allura? Why is she so mad at me? From my memories she seemed to be strict but nice. And fun when we joked around but….”

“She is all those things. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t even mad at you. She has been working around the clock to secure many alliances and run the Coalition. She forgets to take breaks and that puts all of us here.” Shiro said, “She does not get a pass for acting the way she did and she knows that. She feels pretty bad about it right now. Give her some time and I’m sure she will come around.” 

“I hope so. I’m not sure I can handle being yelled at like that again.” Lance admitted. 

“Lance, I just talked to Coran and he said that he found a planet that could help both your memories and Keith’s condition.” Shiro broke the silence, trying to ease Lance’s worry.

“Really?” Lance played along as if he hadn’t been eavesdropping on Pidge and Coran minutes ago.

“Yeah, they are extremely advanced in medicine and rehabilitation. They’ve agreed to help you guys.” Shiro said.

“When will we get there?” Lance asked, facing Shiro again.

“Tomorrow afternoon.” 

Lance guessed the sleepover will have to wait.  
________

Lance was practically bouncing off the walls. He was excited, worried, and so many other emotions he couldn’t even contain his jitters. He chose to be excited right now, he was experiencing a new planet for what seemed like the first time. Zee wasn’t like anything Lance remembers seeing. His dreams conveniently like to leave out the war and the places he’s been in space, except the castle. He knows he encountered many new planets over the time he’s been in space but he can’t help but be amazed at what he sees. Coran is rambling on about how much this planet has changed since he had last been there. Lance hadn’t asked about the Altean’s history because he was already confused about what they had told him. 

“Lance?” Lance turned to Allura who was a few steps behind him. She looked sheepish and disappointed. Lance just gave a little smile to urge her to keep talking. “I am sorry about my actions towards you recently. I shouldn’t have taken my problems out on you. I wasn’t the best towards you before or after the mission.” 

“I forgive you.” Lance said, simply knowing fully well he was unaware of the majority of problems they were facing right now. 

“Thank you. That’s all I could ask.” She hesitated a moment before saying, “The Zeans are willing to do what they can to help you retain your memories. Please be patient with the process. They have some odd practices, but they are very effective and will help.” 

“I’ll do my best.” Lance said, hand worrying his jacket sleeves.

Allura smiled, reassuringly, turning to the rest of the team, “Hunk. Pidge. You will be going with Lance to help him though regaining his memories. Shiro and Coran, you’ll be going with Keith to oversee any medical or human needs they may not be aware of. And if you need me, I’ll be in a meeting with the president of Zee.” 

Landing on an alien planet is something Lance wondered how he forgot. The feeling is indescribable. A mix of emotions that are jumbled so messily they are almost unrecognizable. Stepping foot on an alien planet is not another story. 

“Welcome to Zee. I hope we are able to help the paladins of Voltron.” A Zean welcomed Voltron as they walked off the Castleship. Zeans were human like. They were tall and had dark brown skin, much like the Princess. The only thing that sticks out right away is the fact some have more arms than others. Some had two. Some and four. And some six. Lance didn’t see anyone with more than six. Which was good because anything more than two was already enough. If you looked closer, the Zeans' hair color and eyes were complimentary colors. Like blue and orange or purple and yellow. 

Looking at his friends Lance could tell this is not the craziest type of alien they’ve seen so far. Everyone actually seemed pretty relaxed for the most part, not experiencing the same awe Lance was in that moment. 

“Thank you. This is Lance, he's the one in need of opening his memory box.” Coran says, not unlike a small, very energetic, child. 

“Ah, yes. Lance you will be going with Alana and Koa.” The girl gesturedto two other Zeans standing behind her, “And where is the one in need of medical attention?” 

“He is in one of our healing pods in the castle.” Allura explained.

“Please, show the way I’m here to bring him to our hospital.” She says, falling into step with Coran and pulling something like a stretcher with her. Shiro followed them back into the Castle. Lance more than anything wanted to go with to make sure Keith would be okay. After hearing Coran and Pidge talk about his condition Lance was none stop worrying about him. He’d vowed to stay positive, but his mood now took a turn for the worst. 

Hunk and Pidge steered Lance towards Alana and Koa. As they walked Lance saw Allura leave with another Zean into a large building most likely their government building. 

“Hi Lance, my name is Alana.” She says holding out one of four arms, Lance shook her hand and took in her purple hair and yellow eyes, she gestured to her friend who had green hair and orange eyes. Lance reached out to shake one of her two arms, “And this is Koa.”

“Nice to meet you.” Alana and Koa started walking and Lance took the que to follow them. Hunk and Pidge trailing them, as they whispered about sciency stuff, staying close to support Lance when/if needed. 

“How are you feeling Lance?” Alana asked, as if they were having a normal conversation. Lance remembered the Princess said to just go along, but he wasn’t in the mood for a normal conversation; he wanted answers. 

How did he feel. He was excited when they touched down, but he kept thinking about Keith and was constantly confused. He was lethargic and tired. But he wanted to keep in good spirits because they were getting help from some of the best people for the job. 

“I’m not sure. Some good, some bad, and some I can’t place.” Lance said, not sure how to sum up the mix of emotions he was feeling. Hunk and Pidge’s heads popped up when Lance said this. The Lance they knew was really in tune with emotion, his and others. It’s what makes him so personable and friendly. 

“That’s okay. Why don’t we start with the bad.” Koa suggested. 

This was gonna be a long day.  
________

“No, that’s something we can’t ingest.” Shiro said as he scanned another medicine. There have been very few things that the paladins can have that the Galra also can have. Shiro knew that they were running out of options. 

“Coran should we call Pidge? She knows way more than I do about all of this.” Shiro asked, knowing it was the best option.

“Yes, I’ll send for number five.” Explaining on his way out Coran back tracked go find Lance, Pidge, and Hunk.

The Zean healers left to take a break, leaving Shiro and Keith alone. Coran was right when he explained to Shiro that they were extremely advanced. There were so many things in this one small room that Shiro had absolutely no idea what they did. The patches on Keith’s chest weren’t hooked up by wires but worked like Bluetooth relaying information wirelessly. The oxygen mask also wasn’t hooked up to a machine, to make it even better it was quite small only covering the bottom half of Keith’s nose. It pulled air from around them to Keith. There were so many things that Earth would definitely benefit from if it had this tech. 

“Come on, Keith.” 

A loud group of people burst into the room, and no surprise it was Coran, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance. But Lance wasn’t as boisterous as he usually was. His eyes were glassy and his nose was red. He looked miserable. Lance quietly came to stand next to Keith, softly gripping his hand. Eyes shining with news tears. 

Shiro slowly moved from the foot of the bed to where Coran, Pidge, and Hunk were arguing about something Shiro wasn’t keeping up with. He pulled Hunk aside to talk away from the Coran and Pidge were still arguing.

“Hey, how’d things go?” Shiro asked quietly, not wanting to disturb Lance. 

Hunk caught on and pulled Shiro into the hall, confusing Shiro, “It definitely wasn’t what we were expecting. Though now that I think about it I’m not sure what I was expecting.” 

“What happened? Lance looks upset.”

“They talked to him. That’s all they did. They didn’t really acknowledge the fact he is missing memories. They just didn’t do anything. I think he’s frustrated.” Hunk explained. “It was more like they were trying to understand how Lance was feeling. I’m not sure how that’s going to help but Allura told Lance they have strange practices.”

“Okay, what did they talk about then?” Shiro asked, still not understanding what happened or how it’s going to help. 

“They literally just talked about how Lance is feeling and why.” Hunk said, not sure how else to explain their weird walk. Two minutes in, Hunk and Pidge couldn’t talk about the Zeans and their technology because they were shocked by the conversation between Lance and the Zeans. Lance was not as open as usual and was sometimes unwilling to talk about certain subjects. Keith being one of them. It took a lot of prompting on Alana’s part to keep Lance talking. 

“Hopefully, it’s just the first step and Lance will move on soon.” Shiro said, “Why don’t you take him and get some food to bring back. It’ll take his mind off of everything.”

“Sounds good, I’m starving!” Hunk said.

Shiro chuckled and together they made their way back into the room where Lance was still standing by Keith. Coran and Pidge seemed to have come to an agreement and were working on the other side of Keith’s bed.

“Hey Lance, Shiro asked me to get some food. Wanna come help?” Hunk asked, keeping his voice quiet and sunny. 

“Um….yeah, sure.” Shiro knows he doesn’t want to leave Keith. Lance was stressed and being stressed in the hospital wasn’t really a good thing. 

As they leave the doctors and nurses arrive again and pick up where they left off now working with Pidge.  
________

Lance was quiet and Hunk wasn't happy about it. He usually has something to talk about, even when there was nothing to talk about. He missed the way Lance filled the silence. It always made the toughest times bearable and good times even better. Lance was the one to add life to the dullest conversations. 

“Lance, I’m sorry about today.” Hunk said, “I know it's frustrating.”

“No, it’s nothing for you to be sorry about and, yeah it’s frustrating, but we’ll get through it, just like Shiro said. I’m just tired, confused, and I mis….” Lance trailed off eyes locking on the ground. 

“You what?” Hunk asked, after it was clear that Lance wasn’t going to finish without being promoted.

“I miss Keith.” He said quietly.

“Oh, buddy.” Hunk hugged Lance, he isn’t surprised Lance heavily leans into him, “It’s okay to miss him. We all do.”

“Thank you.” Lance didn’t elaborate. He didn’t need to.

They stood in the middle of the path for what felt like the longest time before they started walking back to the castle to grab something to eat.  
________

“This will work. However, we don’t know if he could have side effects or pain from the treatment.” 

“What are the side effects?” Pidge asks.

“Well, temporarily lost memories like the red paladin. He could have impaired speech. Uncontrollable muscle movement or spasms. Those would be the top but are all cureable. The pain would be headaches or migraines, maybe muscle soreness.” 

“Okay, what if we don’t use this?” Pidge asked, mentally weighing all options.

“He’s going to slip into a coma and you’ll have to wait for him to wake up on his own. Judging by the situation he probably won’t wake up or it will take a very long time.” The doctor explained, eyeing several charts in all four hands.

“I’ll let the others know and we’ll make a decision. Thank you.” 

Pidge sighed, looking to Keith who was lying still on the bed. She silently prayed that they could come up with a good plan. One that hopefully didn’t cause Keith any more pain, even though the best option was more than likely going to cause some. 

“Pidge?” Pidge turned to see the team enter the room, all stand around Keith’s bed. 

They stood in silence before Pudge said, “Can we talk in the hall?”

Shiro nodded, the team walked into the hall leaving Lance at Keith’s side due to the earlier request of his team that he stay away from all the decision making when it came to Keith’s condition, “Lance, you’ll be okay?”

It was Hunk standing by the door waiting for confirmation, “Yeah, buddy, I’ll be fine.”

Hunk nodded and left to meet the others in the hall. Once Shiro, Hunk, Allura, and Coran we’re gathered around Pidge, she immediately went into the full description of what they were dealing with. 

“The doctor said all of the effects are treatable, but could cause damage.” She went on, eyes coming off the tablet to be rubbed, “If we don’t treat him soon he’ll more than likely be in a coma and the doctor isn’t sure he’ll ever wake from it.” 

As they talked out a solution, Lance was sitting next to Keith taking in his features. Pale skin. The super light tan lines from his stupid gloves, Lance is now thankful to remember. Dark hair. Long lashes. He was beautiful. Lance was so lucky to find someone as great as Keith. He desperately wanted to tell Keith he was amazing, he was loved. 

Lance wasn’t upset about not being a part of making the decision. He knew he wouldn’t be as helpful as he probably normally would be. Also, Lance was already frustrated and tired, not a good place to be when making a decision as important as this one was. So, Lance figures he’ll help by offering Keith some comfort even if he wasn’t awake. 

“I really miss you.” Lance whispered, smiling at Keith brushing his hair away from his face. “Wake up soon, okay?” 

Lance was finally feeling more peaceful as he relaxed, holding Keith’s hand. Lance wanted to think the small twitches were Keith waking, but after the first few times Lance had to remind himself Keith wasn’t waking now. 

It was a while before the door to Keith’s room opened again, but when it did the team files back in to stand around Keith. Hunk came to stand next to Lance placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder. Lance didn’t ask what they had decided on, he didn’t even know the options to begin with. He could tell that it was something they weren’t all one hundred percent on. Lance smiled even though he was nervous. He pulled Keith’s hand gently to his mouth, hoping what came next was the right choice. 

Lance quietly stood leaving. Hunk trailed after him as they left for another session with Alana and Koa.


	6. You’re Still in My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is finally awake, but has one more not so small complication. Lance is still frustrated, but is so happy to be able to say those three words to Keith.

Keith woke slowly.

He was warm and uncomfortable. Opening his eyes Keith immediately shut them again due to the light. His eyes being so blurry he couldn’t tell where he was. The one thing he did know was that there were people upset, yelling. It wasn’t helping his headache or nausea. 

Keith kept his eyes closed trying to find relief for his pounding head. It helped, but Keith really wanted sleep to take him again. Some time later Keith felt something cold against his arm. It shocked him so much that his eyes snapped open then closed again immediately. He grunted as the light faded behind his eyelids. Whoever was in the room started shouting again. The lights slowly started to vanish with the presence of many people surrounding him. 

Keith was now even more uncomfortable knowing there were many people looking at him. He squirmed, at the movement Keith could tell he’s been lying for a long time due to being extremely stiff. Keith's muscles seemed to be really twitchy and crampy. His jaw felt like it was ironed shut.

“Keith, hey, are you with me?” Shiro, Keith moved his hand palm up to signify that he heard Shrio. He heard Shiro chuckle, someone grasped his hand. He immediately thought it was Lance, he was grateful for him being here for him. But soon it became clear that Lance’s hand was bigger than the one in his now. I had to be Pidge.

“Keith, are you still in pain?” Shiro's voice broke through the pounding headache. He squeezed Pidge’s hand. 

“He must have a headache. It was one of the common side effects. The lights won’t do any good.” She explained for Keith. He knows it’s very uncharacteristic of him to be touchy with people, other than Lance, but Keith’s jaw was still locked and aching. 

He rubs his thumb over Pidge’s hand, she chuckled, “I think I hit the nail on the head.” 

“What?” Shiro asked, sounding further away. The lights flicked off and Keith’s headache was grateful. He felt some of his muscles relax.

“He’s squeezing my hand. I don’t know why he’s not talking, but it’s something.” She explained. Keith’s jaw then decided to spasm and he gripped Pidge's hand. Another came to his face and fell on his jaw, “Oh, he’s having muscle spasms. His jaw is locked up.” 

Keith's senses slowly were coming back, he was registering more pain as he regained more feeling. Keith heard them talk with the doctor, but the stab of pain coming from his stomach causes his grip to tighten significantly. 

“Keith? Hey, hey! What’s wrong?” Pidge asked, promptly sending the others into panic. 

“What is going on Pidge?” Allura asked. 

“His grip tightened like he’s in pain.” Pidge said, “Keith if you can move your arm? Show us what’s wrong.”

She let go of his hand only for it to curl in on itself, spasming. His clenched jaw tightening significantly at the pain. He moved his clenched fist to his upper stomach, wincing when it came in contact.

After his hand had been there for a few ticks Pidge quickly moved it to his side again wrapping it in hers. She carefully pulled his hand open pressing into the muscle to help it relax. 

Keith felt hands pull open his shirt where his hand had been something cool was placed there, Keith winced again at the contact. Willing himself to stay still. The stabbing pain continuously got worse the longer nothing was done. He knew they were scanning for the cause but the pain was too much. 

A particularly bad stab coursed through this body causing him to abruptly sit and curl in on himself, he screamed in pain as his jaw finally unclenched. He knocked into a few people in the process. Hands instantly gripped his shoulders to push him back to lay down. He can’t bring himself to lay back, his muscles cramping . 

“Keith you need to lay down!” 

“I… I can’t. Cramp.” He breathed out. 

“Okay, do we have any to relax his muscles?” Pidge asked from his left, her hands gripping tightly on Keith’s shoulder. 

“The Paladin has shrapnel stuck in his abdomen. We have to give him anesthetics.” Keith felt his heart sky rocket, “Someone prepare the room.”

He heard himself scream again as another stab coursed through his stomach. The last thing Keith heard was, “Hang in there, Keith.”  
________

Alana and Koa dropped Lance off at the castle after they were satisfied with the work they’d done that day. Which was the same thing they had done the day prior. Lance wished Hunk was still with him, he had been called to the hospital to help with Keith. They had said something about dosage and side effects. Things that sent Lance into a constant state of worry. 

The team had asked Lance to not visit the hospital until Keith was stable. They had chosen to give him the medication, Lance didn’t know the details, but he’s sure they chose the right thing for Keith. Lance was angry about not being there when Keith woke but he understood. Shiro had explained they didn’t want Lance to be more stressed so he was also able to get better. Lance had told Shiro he understands, he also promised to try to relax. 

Lance walked the castle. He was trying to find familiar things, hoping he was able to pull some memories from it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really seeing anything striking. Lance had wandered through the bridge, the training room, his bedroom, Keith bedroom, the dining room, kitchen, and the lounge. He was running out of familiar places until he came across an elevator. Curiosity took over and Lance pressed the button to open it. 

Lance stepped into the elevator and looked at his options. One of the buttons was labeled pool and Lance pressed it. After riding for a minute the elevator opened. Lance stepped out to see an empty floor. Confused Lance wandered in further until something told him to look up. 

Lance nearly suffocated; he was laughing so hard. The pool was on the ceiling! Lance laid on the floor to look up to the pool. He felt some emotional connections to the path here. Confusion. Happiness. Adventure. Frustration. Lance smiled, he felt his early rivalry with Keith. They must’ve come here together.

Lance laid there for a long time before he started on his way back to the lounge. What better place to relax, right? 

Wrong. 

As Lance walked back to the lounge he made a wrong turn. He started to come across things that were new, Lance got a creeping suspension that he was lost. At the end of the hall there was a door that was cracked open, curiosity struck again. 

Lance pushed it open to be met with windows. More like a glass wall. It was dark on Zee and the stars were amazing. They reminded Lance of home, of Keith. They were not the stars from Earth, but they were just as stunning. 

Lance stepped into the room to find pillows, blankets, and bean bags like cushions. There were two bean bags with red and blue blankets and pillows piled haphazardly on top of them. Lance smiled, they had to belong to him and Kieth. Lance went to the blue one and pulled up the blankets to lay on the bean bag and cover himself. He relaxed into the bean bag and watched the stars connecting some that maybe constellations to the Zeans. 

Lance fell asleep shortly after settling.

“Keith!” Lance ran to the pod where Keith was just stepping out. He crashed into him causing Keith to be squished between the pod and Lance.

Keith’s arms encircled Lance, “I told you I’d be here.”

“And I never doubted you.”

“Are you able to stay now?” Lance asks, quietly even though they were the only ones there. 

“Yeah, I can stay.” Keith says, matching Lance’s volume.

Lance pulls back to kiss Keith causing both of them to panic as their lips pressed together. Lance pulls away apologizing, “I’m sorry….I didn’t me….”

Kieth just smiles and says, “Lance, it’s okay. I-I like you, too.” 

“Really?” Lance’s simile is so big Keith could help but to stare at the boy in his arms. Keith nods and carefully kisses Lance again this time they both melt into each other. 

This was Lance’s favorite dream so far.  
________

“Lance, please come to the bridge.” Shiro’s voice startled Lance from his sleep. Blinking Lance realized he fell asleep on the bean bags. It was starting to become light outside, he’d slept there all night. 

Stretching Lance started making his way back to the bridge. Or hopefully the right way back to the bridge. He was pleased to make it there with little issue only to be met with the team, all who seemed to have not slept last night. Lance wandered in, coming to stand next to Hunk. 

“Hey, buddy, where were you? We looked all over?” Hunk asked, drawing everyone’s attention to Lance.

Lance smiled, rubbing the back of his head, “I’m not sure, I feel asleep on some cushions while exploring. I was hoping to jog some memories.”

“Oh, that’s actually a really good idea.” Hunk said, yanwning. 

“Can I ask why it looked like all of you didn’t sleep last night?” Lance questioned, eyes moving from face to face. He felt a little bad about feeling so good, finally felt like he had a lot of energy. 

“We were with Kieth.” Shiro slowly started. “He’s okay, but we felt we needed to stay until he stabilized.” 

“Okay,” Lance said slowly, “Did the medication work then?”

“Yes, but he had some shrapnel stuck that we didn’t notice.” Shiro said, “They immediately removed it so we decided to stay with him till we felt good to leave.”

“I….” Lance felt horrible. He wasn’t there when the team and Keith needed him. He’s not sure he could have done much but he still could have been there. “Can I see him?” 

“I don’t see why not.” Coran said, looking to Shiro for conformation.

“Yeah, by the time you're done with Alana and Koa Keith should be awake.” Shiro said, Lance smiled even though he meant go see Kieth now. It’ll have to do since Lance could see Alana and Koa walking towards the castle now. “Just so you know once Keith is awake we're going to put him in a pod for the rest of his healing. But don’t worry we’ll make sure you get to see him before he goes in.”

“Thank you, Shiro.” Lance smiled, “Your guys go sleep you all look terrible.” 

“Thank you for pointing that out Lance. Much appreciated.” Pidge said sarcastically, but her smile ruined her façade, Lance finally was acting more like himself. 

“I’ll see you guys later.” Lance said heading out to meet Alana and Koa. 

“Lance, are you sure you're okay going alone?” Hunk asked, sluggishly standing to follow Lance.

“I’ll be okay, thanks.” Lance smiled, “Go get some sleep.”

Lance waved over his shoulder and everyone wished him luck.  
________  
Waking to no little noise and light was blissful. Kieth was able to ease into wakefulness, slowly registering his new environment. As he opened his eyes he was thankful to find he was no longer in severe pain. He was very sore but nothing he couldn’t handle. Keith was definitely on pain medication, he felt a little loopy and tired. Looking at his arm Keith failed to find and IV. 

“Hey.” Keith turned his head to find Lance sitting next to him holding his hand. Lance, even though he was smiling, looked tired and sad. Keith's heart clenched at the sight. 

Keith decided to smile, he was unsure how an attempt at talking would end up. Instead he squeezed Lance’s hand in greeting. 

“I’m glad you’re awake.” Lance said softly, Keith could see his face was heating up, “I really missed you and I’m sorry I got upset with you before. I was confused but that was no reason to act the way I did.”

Keith shook his head and was about to respond before Lance said, “I know this may not be the right time, but I love you, too.” Lance whispers, “I’ve been having more dreams about us and even without them you’re still in my heart.” 

Keith opens his mouth to say it back but Lance beat him to it, “You don’t need to say it. I know. Rest and tell me when you have the voice to.”

Keith’s heart was now swelling with love for this boy who sat before him. Keith loved Lance and will always love him with everything he had and everything he will have. Keith pulled at Lance’s hand asking him to come closer. Lance stood to sit next to Keith on the bed. Keith pulled again and Lance tips forward till he’s close enough for Kieth to kiss his forehead. Lance smiled, he returns the gesture and carefully placed his forehead against Keith’s, both of them taking the time to bask in the other's presence. 

Keith tried really hard to stay awake, but with the medication and Lance’s warmth it was impossible. Once Lance was sure Keith was sleeping he slipped quietly out of the room into the waiting room. Where the team was set up talking through to many things for Lance to comprehend in the middle of the conversation. 

“Hey, was he awake?” Hunk asked, sliding over to make room for Lance who plopped down next to his best friend, resting his head on Hunk’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, he woke up for a few minutes.” Lance said, as he smiled.

“How is he?” Shiro asked, a question everyone wanted to know the answer to.

“He seems to be okay. I’m pretty sure he’s on some really strong pain medication, he didn’t actually say anything.” Lance explained.

“He didn’t say anything?” Pidge asked, looking up from her tablet.

“No, I told him not to. I could tell he was tired, he fell asleep pretty quickly. He seemed to be in a good mood.” Lance said. 

“That’s good he’s resting. We’ll move him to a healing pod once the doctors are satisfied with his condition.” Coran said, looking over Pidge’s shoulder at the tablet.

“Lance, how have your treatments been?” Allura asked, she had been really quiet around Lance since she had yelled at him. Lance assumed it was because she still felt guilty even though he’d forgiven her.

“Good. I think.” Lance said, picking up his head to rub his eyes. “Like you said their practices are strange and I’m not sure how the sessions are helping but Alana and Koa seemed to like the progress so far.”

“Ah, I see. Stick with it, Lance, I’m sure you're almost done.” She answered, smiling.

Lance smiled back as he was about to ask what Pidge and Coran were working on Alana came into the waiting room, “Lance, I’m glad I found you. Would you like to take a walk?”

“Sure.” Lance stood, and bless his soul, Hunk knew with a nod that Lance was good to go alone again.

This session was different. Alana and Lance went alone. 

“How are you feeling today?” Alana asked, they were walking the same path they have for the last few days. It’s beautiful. It winds through their town, then through some wooded area, and loops back to the hospital. It was really nice to be outside, not cooped up in the castle. The castle was big but it didn’t have fresh air. 

“I’m feeling a lot better. I was able to talk to Keith just before you came. It meant a lot.” Lance said, smiling and he wished he could be with him now, but they both needed to heal and for that to happen they needed to be in different locations. 

“That’s wonderful. What about your dreams?” She asked, it was odd walking with someone who had four arms. If it were Lance he wouldn’t know where to put them. Alana’s bottom two were crossed and the top two swayed as they walked.

“They have still only been about the team. I don’t have any from the war or visiting other planets.” Lance said, though he really doesn’t want to have those kinds of dreams he knows they are important.

“I see, tell me about those you have had.”  
________

“How is Lance doing? Really?” Keith asked, watching his brother turn to look at him. Keith hadn’t seen Lance since yesterday when he visited. He really wanted to know how he was going.

“Lance is doing really good.” Shiro said, Keith gave him a look that said, that’s it, “Look, I know Lance hasn’t been here for a while but we asked him to keep his visits to a minimum.”

“You what? Why can’t he come?” Kieth asked, he knew Lance was still working to get his memories back but why does that mean he can’t visit him.

“Hunk and Pidge, along with some Zeans, are working with him to restore his memories but he’s having a little trouble with his rehabilitation.” Shrio explained.

“I don’t see why that means Lance can’t come see me. And what kind of trouble?” Keith asked, he was itching to move. All his muscles are stiff and he wanted to stretch them out but no one will even let him sit anymore than what the pillows allowed. 

Coran had explained to Keith the paste the Zeans had used to close his wound from surgery acts like a glue. Unfortunately they don’t know how it would work for humans, even though the ingredients were safe to use. They were worried the difference in skin makeup would cause issues with it pealing or falling off if Keith moved too much. 

“Don’t worry not bad trouble. He’s more frustrated than anything. They are acting more like therapists and it’s confusing why they are helping Lance the way they are. Most of us were sure they had something that would be much quicker given their medical abilities.” Shiro explained, his face softened, “I’ll tell him you asked for him.”

Keith smiled, “Thanks Shiro.”

Lance came in not ten dobashes later just as the doctor was leaving. He walked in quietly and that was enough to tell Keith he was upset. As Lance sat Keith held out his hand offering unspoken support. Lance smiled and laced his fingers with Keith’s.

“Hey.” Keith said, quietly, hoping to break through to Lance with little pressure.

Lance smiled, looking back at Keith, “Hey.” 

“How are you?” 

Lance chuckled, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” 

“You can, but I also want to know how you are.” Keith said, unintentionally his thumb started to rub Lance’s hand. 

“I’m okay. I just wish the process was faster.” Lance admitted, head down smiling at their hands.

“I’m confident that you’ll get through this.” Keith said, hoping to catch Lance’s eyes. When he did he said, “You will get them back.” 

Lance was shocked Keith was able to pick up exactly what Lance feared would happen if things didn’t get better soon, “How do you know me so well?” 

Keith smirked, “Lance we’ve been together for months and teammates for over a year.”

“True, true.” Lance chuckled, “Thank you. Everyone keeps telling me soon and I just get….”

“Disappointed?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Lance squeezed Keith’s hand lightly, “Now, how are you?” 

“I’m going to be fine. So don’t worry. They think I’ll be able to get into a pod later today. They said I should only have to be in there for a few varga.” Keith said, he’s thankful they were able to find what was wrong. He was told what had happened with everything. He’s glad they decided to risk the medication, even if there was a chance it wasn’t going to end very well. And even though Keith did experience some of the side effects, Pidge and the doctors worked hard once Keith woke up to treat them. 

“Good. I-”

“Lance? Alana is asking for you.” Hunk said, as he peaked in the door.

“Okay, tell her I’ll meet her down there, thanks.” Hunk gave a thumbs up making his way out of the room.

“I have to go, Alana is the one helping me with the rehabilitation.” Lance said, answering Keith’s question, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you before you are moved to a pod.”

Keith pulled on Lance’s hand slightly, “That's okay, I won’t be in it long and I’ll see you when I’m out, okay?” 

Lance stood leaning over Keith, “Okay, I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” Lance kissed Keith's forehead.  
________

Keith had been moved to the pods that night. He was set to be let out before lunch the following morning. As much as Lance wanted to be there he knew that he’d be called for another walk. Alana and Koa had consistently taken Lance out once in the morning and once in the afternoon. 

Lance was beginning to lose hope, as much as he wanted to believe Keith was right he couldn’t help but feel hopeless. Lance stopped having dreams. He had napped after talking with Alana. He had just thought that maybe he hadn’t reached REM, but he deep down was sure he did. Then that night Lance was met with a dreamless sleep. 

When Lance has told Alana he stopped having dreams she cut their walk short and told Lance he should go see if Kieth had left his pod. Lance thought it was strange she’d cut their walk short, but he was hoping she had an idea she was going to set up. He was being optimistic, for Keith and his team.

Lance made his way back to the castle hoping Keith was finally awake. Seeing Keith in the hospital, hurting made Lance worry more than he’s ever before. He knew it wasn’t his fault, but he couldn’t help blame himself for everything that happened.

“Lance, your back early! How’d it go?” Hunk asked, he seemed to be making his way back from the hospital.

“I’m not sure. She kinda cut things short, but maybe she had somewhere to be.” Lance reasoned, falling into step with Hunk.

“I’m sure that’s it. Let’s go see if Keith’s awake.” Hunk suggested. Lance nodded, following a step behind to the med bay. 

Hunk and Lance walked into the med bay to see Keith sitting on a bed facing away from the door. Coran was poking at him, asking a lot of questions. Keith was laughing at his antics. Lance was sure that’s the best thing he’s heard in a while.

“Seriously, I feel just fine. I promise.” Keith insisted, smiling, sounding like he’s said it for the millionth time. 

“Good enough for me.” Pidge said pushing past Coran to jumping into Keith’s arms. Keith smiled at her fondly while he hugged her back. Shiro, Coran, and Allura were soon to follow. Keith's smile, or what Lance could see of it, was infectious he could help but to respond with his own. 

Lance was pulled out of his stupor when Hunk moved to join the hug. Lance followed after him, ending up behind Pidge next to Hunk. Once his eyes lock with Keith's, his smile became brighter. Keith pulled out a hand to give to Lance as he settled into the hug. 

Keith unlaced their fingers causing Lance to look up at him. Keith smiled and his hand reappeared cupping Lance’s face. Lance caught on and leaned over to kiss Keith.

“Ew,” Pidge screeched. “No, don't do that when I’m literally right under your dumb faces.”

Everyone broke into laughter as Keith kissed Lance again causing Pidge to shreak again a wiggle with little success due to being trapped in between Keith, Lance and Hunk. 

Lance and Hunk finally moved back allowing Pidge to break free running playful out of the room. She was yelling at the other to leave before things got worse. The team did leave soon after her, their laughter finally dying down into soft chuckles. 

Once they were gone Keith hopped off the bed, pulling Lance into a hug. Lance immediately wrapped his arms around Keith’s back, he could feel his boyfriend lean heavily into him. Lance knew those pods made you tired. 

As they stood there Lance could feel tears silently rolling down his face. He’s not sure what caused them. He was happy, but also many many other things at once. He was stressed. Hopeless. Frustrated. Happy. Thankful. 

Now when Lance looks back he thinks it was a little of everything.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Keith asked. He pulled away to cup Lance’s face, brushing at the tears with his thumb.

Lance smiled, “I’m really happy you’re okay.” 

Keith’s smile brightened his face and let go to grab Lance’s hand. “You up for a nap?” 

“Definitely.” 

Keith and Lance make their way back to Lance's room where Keith flops onto Lance’s unmade bed. Lance chuckled, crawling in to curl up into his boyfriend's side. 

“Lance?” Lance hummed letting Keith know he was listening, “You sure nothings wrong.” 

“Yeah, there’s just a lot going on.” Lance tried to assure, throwing his arm over Keith’s chest.

“Like what?” Keith started to run a hand up and down Lance’s back, again trying to gently coax Lance into talking.

“It’s just….” Lance stopped to collect what he was going to say, and to be honest he was starting to fall asleep, “Alana cut our secession short this morning, abruptly. Usually she’s easy going and patient. I think it had something to do with me not dreaming anymore.”

“You stopped dreaming?” Keith asked, surprised.

“Yeah, yesterday I didn’t dream during a nap. I thought I didn’t reach REM, but I know I did.” Lance said, eyes dropping, “Then last night was dreamless so I figured I just stopped.”

“But you haven’t dreamed of everything yet.” Keith said, hand stilled for a moment before resuming. 

“No, I mainly dreamed of our time in the Castle.” Lance said, yawning. Keith rolled bringing Lance to snuggle comfortably into Keith’s chest. 

“I’m sure they they are working hard to figure out what to do.” Keith said, “Till then let’s sleep.”

“I love you.” 

“I love you, too. So much.”


	7. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance visits a friend he hasn’t seen in a while.

“Keith. Lance.” Shrio said, waking the sleeping couple, “They are calling for you at the hospital.”

“Okay, thanks Shiro.” Keith responded, his hand settled in Lance’s hair. He moved with long, slow strokes to gently wake the boy in his arms.

“Lance. Come on, we gotta get up.” Keith smiled at the adorable face Lance made in his sleep, scrunched nose, pulled brows, “They called us to the hospital.”

Lance snuggled closer, shoving his dance into Keith’s neck, “Do we have to?” 

“Well….” Keith said, pulling Lance even closer.

“We could just sleep, that sounds good to me.” Keith laughed, rolling over pulling Lance with him.

“Keith!” Lance laughed too, now lying over Keith’s abdomen.

“Come one, we'll go together.” Keith said, staring at Lance who was still giggling. Keith is sure that Lance’s smile will always be his favorite.

“Okay, let’s go.” Lance said pouting, Keith quickly fixed it with a peck. 

They walked hand in hand to the hospital. Lance felt happy, more carefree than he has been able to recently. He filled Keith in about the planet and Zean's culture, what he knows of it anyway. Keith was glad to see Lance look excited, he’s glad Lance’s personality is still shining through even when he felt hopeless. He was caring, kind, energic, personable, and so much more.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Some have six arms?” Keith asked looking around hoping to catch a glimpse, “I've seen a lot of aliens, but none that look so close to humans with so many arms.” 

“I wish I could remember the aliens I’ve seen.” Lance said, quitely, chewing slightly at his lip.

“You will.” Keith said, squeezing Lance’s hand. Lance smiled up at him, face full of trust.

“Lance,” Lance turned to see Alana and Koa walking towards them, “Ah, you must be Keith. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Keith this is Alana and Koa.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” Keith reached out to shake one of Alana’s four hands before moving to Koa. 

“Can we steal Lance for a walk?” Koa asked, Lance hasn’t seen her for the last three days. Alana said she was also working on other cases that took up a lot of her time. Lance kind of figured that they were a pair, in work and otherwise. No one has brought it up, Lance also doesn’t want to be rude and assume. 

“Sure, I’ll meet you back at the castle?” Keith asked, turning to Lance.

Lance smiled, “Sounds good.” 

Keith squeezed Lance’s hand once more, starting once again towards the hospital. Lance caught up with Alana and Koa once he noticed they had started walking. 

“Lance, I’m sorry for how I ended our last walk.” Alana apologized, turning to make sure Lance was walking with them.

Lance fell into step with them as he answered, “It's no problem. I was just kinda wondering why.”

“Yes, that is why we’ve called you.” Koa said, “Alana ended you walk early because she had a theory she wanted to run by me and our coworkers.”

“A theory?” Lance asked, hoping they found out why he couldn’t get his memories back.

“Yes, you have mentioned a few times that you have not had any dreams of the war or most of your time outside of the castle. We disregarded that information at first. Then you told me that you stopped having your dreams all together.” Alana explained, stopping to presumably collect her thoughts. “I figured you don’t believe you are not on your home planet, much less that you are fighting in a war.”

“What do you mean I don’t believe I’m not on Earth? Or fighting the war?” Lance asked, not understanding where she was coming from, “I am on your planet now. I have encountered the Galra and fought after I lost my memories.” 

“Oh, sorry my wording is off.” Alana explained, “It’s not that you don’t believe, it’s you don’t want to believe. You want to keep a hold on the good things.”

“I-oh-I just….how do I change that?” Lance asked, hope finally finding its way back into his emotions. They finally are starting to piece together a plan. 

“Maybe visit your lion or your training room. Ask for alien objects or pictures. Anything to help cement the facts of the war and being in space.” Koa suggested.

“Okay, I will.” Lance said, finally feeling a little relief. 

“When going through the process of acceptance you may find it to be difficult. It isn’t easy to come to terms with something as horrible as war.” Alana explained, “Please know you can come to us at the hospital to help you through some of the finer steps.” She paused, smiling, “Or if you’d just like to talk.” 

“Yes, please let us know what we can do.” Koa's smile matched Alana’s. 

“Thank you, I will totally come to talk soon.” Lance said, as they arrived back at the castle.

“You are doing incredible things to save many lives. You are a strong and an amazing person, Lance. Don't allow this to get the best of you. The Universe owes you a thank you.” Alana said, smiling brightly.

Lance wasn’t sure if the Zeans hug, but he didn’t really care at the moment. Thankfully, it seemed they did and Alana hugged him back, Koa joining in. 

Soon Lance found himself in the hall entrance of the Castle wondering where he should start. War was written in big, bold ink in his mind, yet it still seemed foggy. Like it never was there in the first place. 

Logically Lance knew that war was a part of his life whether he liked it or not. So why was he having a hard time accepting the fact that it was. Maybe it was because he knew people were hurting. Or his families were hurting. 

What about leaving Earth? Lance had always wanted to be a pilot. Wanted to actually reach the stars, not just stare at them from the ground. Even if it was a beautiful sight. He knew that one day he’d have to say goodbye to his family to take on a mission for the Garrison. 

Before Lance could come to any conclusions he doubts himself outside Reds hanger. He had avoided visiting Red since he’d been back. He’s not sure why, but he felt more anxious the closer he got to the hanger holding his lion. Now he only hesitated before opening the door. 

Sitting like she’s never been moving, Red looked stunning. All the lions were amazing to see, especially up close. Lance was in awe every time he was able to learn more about them through his teammates. 

Now that he was here that anxious feeling started to fade into a dull worry, but relief filled him from head to toe. Lance paused unaware of where his feelings were coming from. He’s done nothing to warrant a major emotional reaction.

Lance! I’m glad you finally came!

Lance spun towards the door looking for the source of the noise, but was met with empty space.

Lance, it’s Red. 

Lance gaped at the large lion before reminding himself that this was space. Anything was possible. Even though he was still slightly in shock, Lance slowly walked to the lion, feeling a small pull. 

“Yeah, uh, hi Red.” Lance said, fully aware he sounded very awkward. 

Hello Lance. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t come before.” Lance scratched the back of his head, “I felt a lot of weird stuff coming from here so I kinda avoided visiting.” 

I understand, I’m sorry to make you feel my worry. 

“Feel your worry? About what?” Lance asked

Come up.

Just then Red lowered her head to allow Lance entrance. Walking into his lion Lance felt a sort of comfort coming from deep within his mind. It made him feel safe. 

Following the path to the cockpit Lance noticed that is was cleaned up from the time he and Keith were stranded. 

Ah, yes, you must thank Yellow and Green’s paladins. They were the ones who cleaned and fixed me. 

“Pidge and Hunk?” A feeling of affirmation washed across Lance as he gingerly settled into Red’s pilot seat. 

Upon sitting Lance, from a different part of his mind, felt he didn’t belo….no deserve to sit here. Lance thought he didn’t remember anything having to do with Voltron outside of the castle so he was pretty sure that there were things missing inside now too. Namely anything to do with war. 

Please don’t. You are more than worthy to be my Paladin, Lance. You have to let go of those negative thoughts.

“I felt this way before?” He felt Red’s ‘yes’ as he tried to settle more firmly into the chair. 

“Tell me something.” Lance requested.

What would you like to know? 

That feeling of worry eased more and more the longer Lance was with Red. Maybe it also helped her that he was here. Lance hadn’t known what to think about Red’s personality. The others had said she was temperamental, but in a way she reminded him of Keith. They were both tough on the outside but once you got to know them they were amazingly kind, thoughtful, and so much more. Realizing this, Lance fully relaxed into Red. 

“I want to know about our bond. Your bond with Keith. How are we connected?” Lance elaborated, “The people trying to help me said I needed to accept that I am not longer on Earth. That I’m fighting in a war.”

Mmm….I’m going to start from the beginning of the new Voltron’s story. Your story. 

Lance smiled, now he regretted not visiting Red sooner.  
________

Keith was called to the hospital to check to make sure he wasn’t having any reaction to the treatments he was given. The doctors explained more in depth what kind of side effects Keith could develop from both the medications and the and the external treatments. He was also told if anything unusual were to happen that he has to immediately return to the hospital for treatment. So nothing out of the ordinary for any space doctor visit. 

After about a varga Keith lazily made his way back to the castle taking in the view of the planet. It was quite beautiful, but nothing compared to a planet they had visited a pheb ago. It was a planet with huge waterfalls and a jungle-like ecosystem. But what made it even better was that it wasn't hot or muggy, but really nice. Keith honestly wanted to stay longer but Voltron called before he could even ask to. They have to go back soon, maybe it would help Lance after all he’s been through in the past movement. It rained a lot on that planet, Lance would probably love to go back. 

Arriving at the castle Keith followed the path that led to the lounge to check in with the team. He assumed Lance was still with Alana and Koa, so he’d wait with the others. Or if Lance was back already he’d probably be with them anyway.

“Hey, Keith, how’d it go?” Shiro asked, being the first to notice Keith was back. 

“Good, they said they didn’t find anything considering.” Keith answered, “But they did say I need to watch for other side effects.”

“That’s great!” Hunk said, smiling.

“Yeah, I’m assuming Lance isn’t back yet.” Keith said, moving to sit next to Shiro on the couch.

“I don’t think so, I haven’t seen him since you guys left.” Hunk said, he’d be the one Lance would be with, aside from Keith, so he most likely wasn’t back. If he was he needed time alone. 

Keith contently sat with his team listening to Pidge and Hunk gang up on Coran arguing, something to do with engineering, when something didn’t feel right.

Keith brushes it off hoping he was just imagining things, but a few dobashes later it was there again. It was wading at the back of his mind. Keith was confused, he wasn’t entirely bonded with Red or Black anymore, but he could still feel them in the outer reaches of his mind. 

He reached out to Black hoping to clarify the feeling, but she didn’t respond negatively. Shiro didn’t seem in distress either so it probably wasn’t Balck. 

Reaching out to Red, Keith could definitely feel her unease. She was worried but not panicking, which was good but not ideal. She’d only reach out to him if there was a problem, with Lance being her Paladin Keith was worried it was him she was concerned about.

Keith stood once Red prompted him to come, causing the others to jump at his abruptness. Allura was the first to regain composure, “Keith, what’s the matter?”

“I….I’m not sure. I think it’s Lance. Red’s reaching out to me. She’s worried, thankfully not panicking. I’m gonna go see if I can find him.” Keith explained walking towards the door.

“Let us know when you find him. Or if you or he needed help.” Hunk said, chewing his lips slightly.

“I will, buddy, don’t worry, I’m sure Lance is okay, Red’s not panicked so….”

“Yeah, you're probably right.” Hunk smiled gratefully.

Keith started making his way to the hangers, he was so happy he is able to reassure Hunk and the others now. After he got together with Lance, Keith really started to learn more about social ques and mannerisms. That was thanks to Lance dragging him to every sleepover or event they had. Don’t get Keith wrong, he is so happy that Lance had done that because now Keith was finally able to relax around the others. He also was able to help them as they have helped him. It felt really good. He finally made a strong connection with people he now calls family. Keith knows he owes a lot to Lance for everything he’s done for not only Keith, their family, and the universe. 

In the hanger Red was sitting as still as ever no indication that anyone had been here in a long time. Keith hopped that Lance had visited a couple times, but he wasn’t sure since Red was worried. 

“Hey Red, is Lance here.” Keith asked, worrying slightly that Lance wasn’t here.

Red hummed, lowering her head so Keith could climb in. Quietly Keith made his way into the cockpit so he didn’t scare Lance; knowing his boyfriend he was probably asleep. Keith knew Lance found great comfort in Red and Blue, he was often found asleep curled up in one of their pilot seats. Turning into the cockpit Keith wasn’t at all surprised to find Lance curled up asleep. 

“Red, what’s wrong? Is he okay?” Keith asked quietly.

He’s overwhelmed. I was filling him in, he needs a break. Please bring him back soon.

“Thanks for getting me Red. And I will.” Keith smiled, he knows she can feel his gratitude, but he always feels the need to tell her. She hummed in thanks.

Carefully, as to not wake Lance, Keith pulled him into his arms. Keith thought a nap would do them some good; so Keith walked them back to their room to do just that.


	8. Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance talks with the team and Pidge has an idea.

A nap was just what they needed. Lance had woken more refreshed that he had felt before. Also cuddling with Keith was always a plus. 

“Lance, how was your walk?” Hunk asked, serving lunch with Coran.

“Oh, uh, we have a plan now.” Lance wasn’t sure what to say, he really didn’t want to get their hopes up only for him to fail. Red however felt a little differently, she softly growled telling him he wasn’t going to fail, “It's just going to be kinda hard on my part.” 

“What do you mean by that?” Pidge asked, “You know we’re going to help you right?” 

“Yeah, yeah….they said I’m mentally blocking myself from regaining my memories.” Lance was so grateful for the hand in his that kept him steady.

“How so?” She asked lightly. He could already see the gears turning in her mind.

“They believe that I can’t…. no won’t accept that I am not on Earth or fighting in war.” Lance felt a reassuring squeeze, “After I accept what’s happened I should be able to regain what I’ve lost.”

“Okay, so we just need to help you accept living in space and war.” Pidge said, she stood to grab her computer muttering to herself as she set it upon the table. Everyone chuckled, this wasn’t the first time Pidge was so deep in thought she forgot she was eating. 

“Pidge.” Shiro said, not sternly but almost a warning. Shiro also stopped seriously getting after her for it because it was bound to happen. When an idea hit they had learned not to object unless necessary. 

She just ignored him.

“So what have you done so far?” Allura asked.

“Um, I went to Red. She had a lot of good information. I feel like I understand a little more. I’m sure that’ll help. Alana and Koa said I should visit her and the training room. See alien objects and pictures would be helpful too.” 

Pidges muttering increased as her fingers flew over her keys. Lance honestly thought she was overworking herself. She had just spent hours upon hours helping Keith. Now she was doing the same for him. She doesn’t have to, Lance would be fine if he didn’t remember the war. 

Lance stilled.

Ah, so maybe that’s why Lance was having a hard time accepting. He didn’t really want to remember. He didn’t want to see the horrible atrocities that came with war. He knew from what Red said that the Galra weren’t so kind. 

“Lance?” Keith said softly, “You okay? You spaced out for a bit.” 

“Oh, ha, spaced,” Lance laughed a little, “Yeah, I think I found out what’s holding me back….I don’t want to remember the war or leaving Earth. There is nothing great about how either events went or are going. I must subconsciously not want to know.”

“That makes sense.” Pidge said, looking at Lance, “You are a very person oriented being, you don’t want to see others hurting if you don’t have to. Not saying we aren’t all like that, but seeing as Lance has extremely good people skills he’s going to have an extra hard time accepting what’s happened.” 

“This sucks, having people skills will be my downfall.” Lance chuckled, so everyone would know he’s not upset, just frustrated.

“I know you're joking, but no, it won’t. We are going to help you in any way we can.” Keith said, looking to Lance then the others as they nodded along with him. 

“Keith is right we will figure out something, my boy.” Coran smiled.

“Thanks guys.”  
________

So far nothing has really worked. Keith took Lance to the training deck to lightly spar, but Lance didn’t actually remember how to. His skill from the moon must have been survival instincts

Allura and Coran took Lance to an old storage room to find the wackiest alien objects they could find, which some were quite disturbing. Lance wasn’t really hipped on going back so they took a break. 

Lance went to find Keith after leaving Coran and Allura to reminisce over some of the trinkets in the room. Keith wasn’t super easy to find. Lance checked the training room, their room, and the kitchen, but still couldn’t find him.

“Lance?” 

Lance turned to see Shiro walking out of the dining room. 

“Oh, hey. Do you know where Keith went?” 

“Yeah, he told me to tell you to meet him in your room.” Shiro said, he smiled before walking past Lance with a pat on the shoulder.

In our room? Lance was just there Keith couldn't have gone back without running into him. Unless he was talking about a different room. 

Smiling Lance walked to the room with the window walls. 

Stepping in Lance found Keith staring out the window at Zee. It was a nice planet, with a decent view. The people were really cool to look at with their sink color combos and multiple arms. 

“Hey.” Lance said making his way to Keith who was sitting on a bean bag covered in the red blanket. 

“Hey,” Keith lifted the blanket, “come ‘ere.”

Lance happily did. Moving to lay between Keith’s legs, resting against his chest, sighing contently. They sat in an easy silence, where Lance was decompressing. 

They had been through so much, yet they found a lot of happy things to keep them going. Such as his boyfriend who was so loving, he couldn’t believe Keith was his. Their space family that felt stronger than ever. And of course, Earth, their families, was always there in the back of their minds pushing them forward.

Keith shifted slightly looking down at Lance. 

“How are you? I know this is stressful.” Kieth smiled, voice soft, lifting a hand to sift through Lance's hair. 

“It is, but I couldn’t ask for better people to help me with it.” Lance smiled, pecking Keith's jaw.

“We will always have your back.” Lance was so in awe of the people who he came to love, “I will always be there for you.” 

“And I will always be there for you.” 

Lance pulled Keith into an awkward kiss but relished in the feeling. Shifting slightly Lance was turned onto his side allowing their lips to slot nicely into each other’s. Lance hummed, pulling back smiling widely. 

“What did I do to deserve you or our amazing space family?” Lance whispered, staring at Keith’s deep purple eyes.

“You didn’t have to do anything.” Keith said, pulling Lance into a tight hug rubbing his hand soothingly over Lance’s arm.

Lance let his head drop into Keith’s shoulder settling firmly into him. He never felt as loved as he did now, “I love you.” 

“I love you, so much.”  
________

“Guys!” Pidge said, running into the lounge where Keith, Lance, and Shiro were relaxing the next afternoon, “I have an idea.”

“About what?” Keith asked, looking up from his book. With a half asleep Lance resting his head on his thighs.

“About Lance! We use the mind melding headsets to show him the places we’ve been and the things we’ve done for the war.” She said, coming to sit on Lance’s legs that were sprawled across the couch. 

Lance definitely wasn’t sleeping now, “Mind melding? What’s that?”

“Don’t worry, it’s like sharing memories between minds.” Shiro reassured him. 

“Oh, yeah, that sounds good?” Lance pretty much asked, looking at Keith. Keith squeezed Lance’s hand looking at Pidge.

“Okay, so how do we go about it?” Keith asked.

“Well, I was thinking that we’d start with Hunk since he and Lance go way back. They swap memories from Earth, then the Garrison, then space.” She said, “Then I’d go with him. Shiro. Allura. Coran. Keith.” 

“Why is Keith last?” Shiro asked, looking to see Keith’s contemplative expression.

“Well, the mind meld also includes emotional connections. Much like with our lions. Starting with Hunk and Lance’s strong family-like bond should help Lance feel more at ease. Making it easier to introduce our connections with Lance.” Pidge paused, “Keith and Lance’s bond is a stronger kind of emotional connection. We don’t want to overwhelm him through the connections. By the time it’s Keith’s turn Lance should be somewhat used to connecting with people.”

“Great thinking, Pidge. We’ll explain this to everyone today and start tomorrow.” Shrio said standing, he and Pidge left, more than likely to talk to the others.

Lance closed his eyes, relaxing back into Keith’s thighs. This was a good step forward. Thank everything that is good that Lance has such a good family. 

“Hey.”

Lance cracked open an eye to see Keith was looking down at him, “Hey.”

“You okay?” Keith’s thumb rubbed lightly over the back to Lance’s hand.

Smiling Lance said, “Yeah, I’m relieved. I really wasn’t sure what to do anymore. Other than visit Red again. Which reminds me, I probably should go do that.” 

“She really missed you.” Kieth said, allowing Lance to sit, leaning against his side.

“I know. I feel bad about not visiting, but I didn’t realize that the anxious feeling I got the closer I came to the hangar was Red’s for me.” Lance said, still feeling a little guilty.

“Don’t feel bad. Red knows how you feel too, so she understands why you didn’t visit her.” Keith said.

“She reminds me of you.” Lance said, softly.

Keith looked a little shocked, “How so?”

“Well, the others told me about the lions, not much, but they said Red was really temperamental. When I visited her yesterday she was kind and thoughtful. Much like you.” Lance said, laughing a little.

“I am not temperamental.” Kieth muttered.

“You are impulsive and a little temperamental, but you are so much more than that. Those are only superficial qualities that people who don’t know you think that’s who you are.” Lance said, sincerely.

“Thank you,” Keith said, quietly, resting his forehead against Lance’s, “I hope you know that you are also so much more than what people see at first. You're caring, kind, and so good with people.” 

“Thank you, that means a lot.” Lance said, pressing his forehead closer to Keith’s. “Do you want to come with me to visit Red?”

“If you want company, I’d love to.” Keith said, Lance just smiled. He stood, pulling Keith to Red’s hangar.


	9. Memories From War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team finally gets to mind meld with Lance, but it’s all to much. Keith, however, knew this would happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, since school started I decided I’m going to try to post Saturday/Sunday instead of Monday/Tuesday. Thank you for sticking around, it means a lot!

Lance was practically shaking in his shoes as Hunk led him back to the training deck. He was excited, nervous, he honestly didn’t know. 

The way Pidge was explaining the connection made Lance a little nervous. He didn’t want anyone to feel bad if he reacted negatively to their connection, but it’ll be okay. They’d understand.

“Are you ready?” Hunk asked, holding metal circlets.

“Yeah.” Pidge had sat everyone down at breakfast to explain her plan. She said they’d all go one at a time, alone, so that Lance could have space to process. 

Hunk smiled, leaning forward to lay the circlet on Lance’s head. Once Hunk laid the other on his head Lance immediately was overwhelmed with what he felt for Hunk. He’s assuming those other feelings were Hunk’s. His brother. Their team’s ray of sun. Their cook. Goofball. Family, warmth, love, stability, safe….

“Close your eyes.” Hunk said softly.

Lance closed his eyes, what he saw amazed him. He was back on Earth sneaking out with Hunk, meeting up with Pidge, Shiro, and Keith. They together found Blue Lance having a connection to her was able to fly them off of Earth to a whole new adventure. Hunk felt anxiousness and excitement associated with the memory. It was where their story as Defenders of the Universe started. 

The scene shifted. A live planet, being destroyed by the Galra, the Balmera. Hurt. It was dying. The people were slaves, worked until they died. Shay, Lance felt a great deal of affection from Hunk as she rolled across the mental images. She was desperate, her family in danger. 

Lance knew these were early on in their time with Voltron. Just the way it felt made it clear none of this was recent. Even though the atrocity they faced as soon as they were in space was something no one outside fighting the war could fathom. Lance knows it hasn’t gotten better.

He felt homesick, heartbroken.

“Lance?” 

Lance opened his eyes to see Hunk took his circlet off.

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked, Lance nodded, a lie, “Okay, I’ll send Pidge in. Take a breather.”

Lance just nodded again. He tried to relax as he waited for Pidge, but he couldn’t stop seeing the faces of the Balmerans. Broken. That’s how Lance would describe their expressions.

Pidge entered the training deck not long after. She smiled and took a seat in front of Lance.

“How’d it go?” She asked, lying her computer gently on the floor, it never far from reach.

“It went good. Definitely not something I’m used to.” He chuckled.

“I figured Hunk was the best to start with. Hopefully it’ll get easier.” She smiled, “And tell us if it doesn’t.” 

“Sounds good, Pidgen.” 

She rolled her eyes, closing them, Lance followed suit.

Pidge wasted no time letting Lance get used to their connection. It was different from his and Hunk’s. Pidge’s connection felt more sibling-like, good natured arguments, affection, crazy, goofy….

Pidge showed Lance the time when they all got split up in the wormhole. It was only her in the memory, but I served its purpose. She was scared, alone, didn't know whether someone was looking for her. All the garbage and the creatures. But mainly her floating in space. 

As she shifted memories Lance felt her getting excited, he desperately hoped for a good memory. 

Yet again, distruction. Olkari, they were brilliant engineers and very close to nature. The Galra used the weapons for themselves. Drove Voltron to the brink of battle before they were able to come up with something that saved the day. The Olkarian people desperately wanted their planet back under rightful control.

He opened his eyes, smiling at Pidge, “I bet that was your favorite planet.”

“Top three. We’ve seen things that would boggle even the smartest minds.” She said, grabbing her computer.

“Hang tight Shiro will be here soon. Then we’ll have lunch.” 

Wow, how did Galra even think of all these things that hurt countless lives. They have deep rooted hate ingrained in their soles. No ounce of sympathy, mercy, anything that makes a person care for others regardless of what they look like or how they think. 

“Lance?” 

Startled Lance’s eyes jumped to Shiro who was already sitting in front of Lance. “Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought.”

“No worries, happens to me too.” He said easing the circlet on his head, keeping his eyes open, “You still doing okay?”

“Yeah, it's a lot but we have lunch after so I’ll be okay.”

Shiro nodded, now that they were quite, Lance could feel their bond. Shiro was something totally different from Hunk and Pidge. He felt more fatherly, than sibling-like. Mutual respect, care, and worry. It seemed harder to get close to Shiro. That in itself seemed wrong.

“This will be intense, please let me know if you need to stop.” Shiro said, quietly.

Gray and purple surrounded Lance as they walked through a Galran ship. Shiro was handcuffed, walking along with Pidge’s brother Matt. Stopping they saw what was in store once they walked through the tunnel into an arena. Shiro was scared, not only for himself, but for Matt as well. Attacking Matt, Lance felt the worst guilt he’s ever felt. So hopeless. Then Shiro entered the arena.

“Good for more?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Shiro pushed on to show the battle with Zarkon. There was so much debris floating as bodies litter the empty space between them. In Black’s cockpit Shiro felt determined to save his team. No one was getting past him. At speeds unknown to man Shiro flew directly at Zarkon. 

For a brief moment Lance felt Shiro call out for help. Lance was confused Shiro wasn’t in danger, he was sitting right here. Then he saw Shiro reaching out to him as he stood in red, blue, purple galaxies. Lance tried reaching back, but he was ripped out of his head by Shiro shaking his shoulders.

“Lance?” He sounded worried, his circlet already on the floor. 

“Are you okay?” Lance asked. 

Shiro brows pinched, “Why wouldn’t I be? You just blacked out for two minutes.” 

“Oh, maybe I’m seeing things.” Lance chuckled, trying to relieve tension, “It’s time for a break.”

“Yeah….” 

Lance could feel Shiro gazes on him every few steps. Lance sighed, “Shiro, I promise I’m okay. I just need a break.” 

“If it happens again tell us.” He said sternly.

“I will.” Lance smiled, walking into the kitchen. He was still worried about what he saw, but he’d have to tell the others later. Keith would probably know what to do since he was close with Shiro.

“Hey, how’d it go?” Keith said, Lance walked up to him pressing a kiss to his cheek. Pidge was fake gagging while Hunk awed.

Lance chuckled at their antics. Honestly the things he’s seen have left him deeply disturbed. And a little depressed. His mood wasn’t the best at the moment, but the others were hopeful. He would be too.

“It's going good, remind me I have to talk to you later.” Lance said, the last part quite directing it towards Keith.

Keith looked concerned, “Okay.”  
________

“What’s up?” Keith asked, he’d stolen Lance before the princess could take him to the training deck.

Leaning against the hallway wall Lance explained what he saw in the mind meld. Keith’s concerned expression deepened as Lance went on.

“It sounds like something brought you to the….oh. Okay, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of Shiro. You get your memories back.” Keith smiled, taking Lance’s hands, “Please don’t worry, it will be okay.”

Lance nodded pushing off the wall into Keith’s arms. 

Keith wrapped him up tight, “Long day?” 

Lance laughed, relaxing into Keith, “You could say that.” 

“Wanna hear a funny story?” 

Lance turned his head into Keith’s neck, intrigued, “Yes!”

“Okay, after we got together. We were doing individual mind melding, kinda like what you're doing now, but we all went with everyone.” Lance nodded, he honestly could wait to try it with Keith. “We were so unprepared for how drastically our emotional connect changed after getting together. We simultaneously blacked out because of the mental overload. We didn’t live that down for weeks.” 

Lance was practically in tears by the time Keith was done. Keith joined him as Lance gripped Keith to keep himself up right before he fell. 

“Holy crow, we actually did that? That's why Pidge said….” Lance laughed.

“Yeah, let’s say Red was jealous of our color that day.” Lance lost it again.

Keith had found that Lance’s emotions were somewhat easily swayed by those around him. He had learned how to keep Lance feeling as joyful as he could. Granted there were times that couldn’t happen, that’s okay. Right now, Keith was a little worried Lance was spiraling into some deeper that could cause him more pain. He didn’t deserve it, now especially.

“Thank you, I needed that.” Lance smiled.

“There you are my boy! Something had called Allura’s attention, come along we’re going to go now instead.” Coran cheerily walked down the hall expecting Lance to follow. 

Lance pressed a quick kid to Keith’s lips before following Coran down the hall.

They settled quickly placing their circlets on their heads. Coran felt familiar like he was their uncle. Someone crazy, like Pidge, who kept them one their toes. Lance could tell Coran held a lot of affection for him. He felt honored. He, unlike Shiro, gladly opened up to Lance. It was overbearing, but welcome.

Coran showed Lance what it was like manning the Castle during battle. Constant worry over the team, running from one control panel to another. Watching as beams and blasts hit the lions. Waiting the excruciating couple of seconds before the Paladin in question affirmed they were okay. If they weren’t Coran and Allura ran to the med bay to ready a pod leaving the castle defenseless.

The next thing Lance knows is the team rushing into the med bay carrying Pidge and Lance. Carried in by Hunk, Pidge’s face was twisted as her shoulder was definitely broken. Lance could see her screech as Allura tried to help her into a pod suit. 

Lance, however, was unresponsive. Keith had carried him in Shiro stuck to his side trying what he could to get Lance to respond. Coran had left Pidge to Hunk and Allura rushing to Lance’s side. 

Once Lance was on a table Coran yelled for Pidge to be put in now and for everyone to leave the room. Everyone did so but Keith. Coran didn’t argue. Before they could get Lance into a pod they had to clean out the shrapnel stuck in his side. Keith's expression at that time is unforgettable.

Coming out of the mind meld Coran softly said, “You gave us a major fight that day. It’s really hard seeing any of you hurt.” 

Lance nodded he was at a loss for words. He knew the war hurt them plenty of times, but since losing his memories he hadn’t thought much about it. He’d only really thought about the people they saw. Not their group. Their family.

“Ah, Lance! Thank you for going with Coran first. Kolivan called….” She trailed off sitting next to Coran.

“Just give him a minute. It may have been a bit much for him.” Lance felt Coran’s presence disappear, Allura taking his spot.

She waited patiently as Lance collected himself. Looking up Lance nodded at her. Putting in her circlet Lance felt a slightly strained bond. He knew Allura still felt bad about yelling at him so he pushed some good feelings to ease her mind. After a moment she relaxed. They were brother and sister, talking about their homes. Explaining culture. She was stable like Hunk and strong like Shiro. 

Lance was thrust into battle once again. This time he couldn’t feel Keith anywhere in his memory. Scanning the battlefield he saw a blade cruzer going full speed towards a shield. He knew it was Keith. He bit his lip, wanting to turn away from the sight. He then heard himself yell Keith’s name as the shield was shot down by a blast. The next few clips he saw were about Lotor. But he saw himself dragging Keith into a hall, anger written all over his own face. 

Overwhelmed, Lance was being drug through to another memory mind still on the other. Lance was in Blue’s cockpit when yelling erupted from the coms as a blur of Red moved quickly in front of Blue. 

It was clear that that blast did more than a number on Red as she floated still in space, her pilot unresponsive to the yelling. Allura rushed to Red to find Lance slumped in his chair. It was clear he wasn’t breathing. Glowing blue, relief. He’d died…. 

Lance ripped off his circlet dropping it like it had burned him. Tears rolling down his checks, Lance curled into himself. 

“Lance?” An unsure voice asked. Lance couldn’t hold it in anymore. Sobs exacted him as Allura halted, “Oh my, maybe Pidge was wrong. Lance, hang tight I’m going to get Keith, okay?” 

Lance nodded, curling up tighter. He’d died. He stopped breathing. He’s supposed to be dead. And Keith. He’d tried to sacrifice himself. He could be dead right now. Lance was shaking so hard. The only thing he could do is draw up his knees to his chest. 

“Hey, babe?” Keith's voice blissfully cut through Lance’s thoughts, “Can I touch you?” 

Lance nodded, Keith pulled Lance into his lap as he rubbed circles in his back. Lance felt so much better, he was here with Keith. He could feel Keith’s heartbeat. They were both okay. Neither had died on those missions. They were here. They were okay….here….okay….

Lance finally calmed down, he was simply resting on Keith’s shoulder, buried in his neck. Keith never once stopped rubbing Lance’s skin soothingly. 

“I knew that would be too much. Why didn’t they listen.” Keith muttered. 

“Hm?” 

“The others discussed what we each would show you. I told them those memories would be too much, but they didn’t listen.” Keith said, kissing Lance temple.

“I died, Keith. You almost died.” Lance said, hand desperately gripping Keith’s shirt. 

“We have been through so much. I wish I could take the pain away.” Keith said, tightening his hold.

“Promise me nothing like that will happen again.” Lance asked, fist tightening in Keith’s shirt.

“You know I can’t, but I will promise you that we will stick together and do our best to keep ourselves and everyone safe.” Keith promised, they’d had this conversation before. Lance was just as heartbroken then as he is now. 

“Thank you.” 

“You don’t need to thank me.” He whispered into Lance’s hair, “Are you up for one more round? I have a feeling I know what’s going to help.”

Lance wearily eyed the circlets, but nodded. He trusted Keith. 

“Okay,” Keith started laying a circlet gently on Lance’s head, “Since you’ve never remembered doing this, leave your mind completely blank. Follow my lead okay? We’ll go slow so you don’t black out.”

Lance nodded, clearing his mind while closing his eyes. It’s hard to do something like that on command, but he’s pretty sure he's close enough. 

Soon Lance felt another connect start to form. It was tentative. Keith was leading as Lance slowly allowed the connection to take form. It was beautiful. Lance could tell why they blacked out the first time. Their connection was strong. He could feel how much they loved and meant to each other. Passion, love, family, and every other emotion that came with loving Keith. Which was a lot, Lance should know.

At first Keith made sure that Lance could feel how much he loved him. How much he was needed. Supported. Useful. Cherished. Not just by himself, but by the team as well. 

Then Keith pulled every memory about the good Voltron has done. The joy of the people they saved. The healing that planets were able to start because of their actions in war. 

The parties in the Castle of Lions. The thank yous from the people on the Balmera. A picture of Lance and a small alien child, both smiling so wide. The diplomatic meetings they attended with Dances held in their honor afterward. Keith and Lance celebrating another win with a dance and a kiss. 

Keith showed Lance all the good they’ve done since they became Defenders of the Universe. All the love and happiness they found here as a family. 

Keith opened his eyes to see Lance’s closed checks stained with tears. For a second he panicked, but Lance seemed more relaxed, happy. He pulled his boyfriend closer, gently lifting the circlets off their heads. 

“Lance, war doesn’t only mean hurt. Yes, that’s what happens, but it’s the good it does that makes fighting worth it.” He wiped some tears from Lance’s face, “You told me you are fighting for your family on Earth. Your family in space. All the lives that deserve to be free, happy, and safe. And us. We have a plan of what we’re going to do when we make it back to Earth. We are fighting for a good future for everyone.” 

“Thank you.” 


	10. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is finally ready to regain his memories.

Scooping Lance up, Keith walked him to their room. On their way there, Lance finally relaxed enough to fall asleep in his boyfriend’s arms. He gently placed Lance on their bed. Keith lightly kissed his forehead before turning to the door. Finding the others was easy, they tended to gather in the common room after lunch. 

“Hey, how’s Lance?” Hunk asked, more than likely he’d already been told what happened with Allura.

“He's upset. I knew it was too much.” Keith said, unsure of what else can be said.

“Maybe I wasn’t quite right about using shock value.” Pidge mumbled from the floor where she was leaning against Shiro’s legs.

“If Lance was that upset, did you meld with him?” Shiro asked, leaning forward to see what Pidge was looking at on her computer.

“Yes, but I didn’t show him what you all wanted me too.” 

“What do you mean?” Allura asked.

“I knew that all the negative things we were going to show him were only going to make him more upset.” Keith started, arms naturally came to cross over his chest. Something he didn’t do very often anymore, “So, I thought about what Lance would want to see about the war. Which, obviously, isn’t much. But, he would want to see all the lives they’ve saved. All the people he’s touched. Their grateful faces. All the good that comes with fighting for what’s right.” 

All of the team in the room stared at Keith. Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Coran, and Allura. He was suddenly extremely uncomfortable with all their eyes trained on him. Also, Lance had become a constant weight next to Keith. Without him here Keith felt naked in a sense. Unprotected. Vulnerable.

“Wow, I’m pretty sure that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at once.” Pidge snickered, obviously joking.

“Well…. he is talking about Lance.” Hunk joked, sending the team into a laughing fit. Keith blushed, unsure of what to do. Some social cues were still hopelessly lost on Keith, especially without Lance. 

“All joking aside, that’s really smart. Did it work?” Pidge asked, coming off the high of laughing.

“I’m not sure, he fell asleep.” 

“I’m not surprised, he’s had a long day.” Coran said standing, “Welp I’m going to check on the system. Keep ‘er up and running.” 

They slipped into a comfortable silence all dividing into conversation. Hunk and Allura were talking about recipes from Earth and Altea, more than likely comparing them while also thinking of ways to combine them. Shiro, Kieth, and Pidge were talking about what upgrades they could make to the training deck. 

Keith was especially excited about some upgrades to the bots. She was going on about how she could make it like you were fighting yourself. It would force you to find your weaknesses, exploiting them. Ultimately, you are able to see where you lacked, as well as excelled, so you can better your skills. Shiro agreed wholeheartedly with Keith that it would be a very valuable tool. 

“How soon could you have that up and running?” Shiro asked, glancing at the door.

“Um….I’d say about a week, but I’m going to need someone to help with calibrations and entering the data for the bots so they act as the person they are fighting.” She said, making a list of things she is going to need.

“I’ll do it.” Keith said, almost suddenly. 

“I thought so.” She said, standing she stood grabbing Keith’s arm pulling him with her to start her newest project.  
_______

Lance woke to an empty bed. Shuffling around he reached for Keith, he found nothing but sheets. Opening his eyes Lance could tell it was sometime in the afternoon. 

Stretching he made his way to the kitchen. On his way there he remembered what happened earlier that day, especially with Keith. Lance knew he was feeling lighter, but as he thinks of his time with Keith he knows that he’s ready. That he’s finally accepted what’s happened. He also felt grateful, he’s not sure if he could have done it without the team. Especially Keith. 

He needs to talk with Alana and Koa as soon as possible. So he changed his direction, Lance headed towards the exit of the castle instead. Passing the training deck Lance didn’t even spare a glance. Even with the loud shouting coming from Pidge erupted as he passed. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear Keith calling his name or notice he was trailing him.

Lance startled when a hand connected with his shoulder, effectively stopping his progress towards the exit. 

“Lance?” 

“Oh,” Lance chuckled, “sorry. What’s up?” 

“Are you okay? Where are you going?” Keith asked, concern painted heavily across his face. Hand falling to his upper arm. 

“Yup, I’m going to the hospital and getting my memories back.” Lance smiled, confidently. 

Keith looked even more concerned, but decided if Lance said he was ready, he was. “Okay, let me come with you.” 

Lance nodded, grabbing Keith’s hand leading them out of the castle. Keith used their communication devices to let Shiro know where they were going. 

At the hospital Lance and Keith were sent to a waiting room. It had large floor to ceiling windows that displayed a garden with all kinds of colorful flowers. Lance felt calm, more at peace. Especially with the thoughts of war. Keith was right seeing the good was exactly what Lance needed. 

He was only thinking about the death and destruction that the war brought. Keith was right in saying the war consisted of good too. People, families, saved from the Galra because they were fighting. They had a future, a good one, because of Voltron. Because of the amazing people he called family. Because they didn’t give up.

“Lance!” 

Lance turned to see Alana walking towards them, smiling brightly.

“Hi Alana!” 

“What brings you here?” She asked, stopping in front of the duo.

“I’m ready for whatever is next.” Lance smiled, “The team took it upon themselves to help me out and I've Come to terms with Earth and the war.” 

“That’s great! Let's get started.” 

Alana led Lance and Kieth through the hospital. She was much more animated than normal. Alana paid special attention to telling Keith and Lance about their tradition called The Festival of Stars, the English translation. She told them how all of the Zeans would flock to the fields to watch shooting stars. They took the traditional seriously, they held nature in high esteem. Lance and Keith kept looking at each other both thinking how it was the perfect festival. It almost seemed like it was made for people like them. Space explorers. Adventures. 

“Here we are.” Alana said leading them into a hall. It was different from the white hospital walls. It was painted a soft blue, paintings hanging in every available area. “This is where Koa and I work. Where we have specialists in recovery and rehabilitation.” 

“Why haven’t you brought me here yet?” Lance asked, surveying the hall.

“I had to take a different approach with you. We have never encountered humans before so we weren’t sure what was the best course of action. Especially since we don’t want our treatment to cause you more pain. It wouldn’t be fair to you. So we took you for walks to learn about your emotions and thought process.” Alana explained, leading the boys into a room half way down the hall. 

It was bright with natural light, a slight sun set starting to form on the horizon. Full of comfortable furniture and pillows. Painted soft-bright colors.

“This is never an easy process, so please make yourself as comfortable as you can.” Alana instructed.

Lance looked around the room, he found a couch, a large chair, and a bed. Lance quickly pulled Keith over to the couch, sitting leaning against his side. Lance soon felt Keith’s hand sliding along his back to settle on his hip. 

Alana was shuffling some materials in a drawer off to the side. She pulled out metal pieces that looked like their mind-melding circlets, Lance internally groaned. Placing it on Lance’s head she pulled the other piece that he thought looked like a small computer chip.

“Don’t fight the memories. They come fast and leave fast. Fighting them won’t allow you to retain what you see.” 

Lance nodded, she brought up her hand placing the chip in the side of the circlet. 

Immediately Lance was reliving all his experiences since flying to the Garrison from Cuba. Alana was right that every memory came fast, emotions, feeling, and mood hit Lance hard as so many filtered through him as each memory played out.  
________

“Babe?” 

Lance’s head felt fuzzy as he woke. The lights were dim, but harsh enough to make him shy away. He registered the feeling of something on his back. Concentrating he realized it was a hand lightly rousing him from sleep.

A quiet voice sounded from above Lance, “I am sure it was successful. Allow him to rest when he’s ready you are free to go.” 

Something was taken off his head making him even more comfortable wherever he was lying. He fell back into a light sleep as the hand continued to smooth over his back.   
________

Lance wasn’t sure how long he dozed, but the second time he woke he felt much more aware. Keith was still rubbing his back. Lance smiled, he was lying on Keith’s lap. Rolling over Lance pushed his face into Keith’s stomach. 

Keith’s stomach moved with his laughter. “Hey.” 

“Hey.” Lance whispered back.

Keith’s hand lands on Lance’s arm thumb moving back and forth. “Did it work?” 

Lance smiled wider, flipping onto his back. “Yeah, it worked.”

Keith smiled down at Lance leaning over him kissing him lightly. Lance’s hands came up to Keith’s cheeks then slid into his hair, lightly pulling it back from his face, “I’m glad.” 

“Me too. Now I can actually remember all of you.” Lance rubbed his nose against Keith’s, “Question, when did my room become ours?” 

Keith chuckled, “When we unknowingly realized we didn’t want to sleep separately.” 

“I guess.” Lance said, his tone turning soft, “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” Keith answered, no hesitation. Lance felt his heart squeeze, he really loved this boy.


	11. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith return to Zee for The Festival of Stars, but there is a looming problem that the Zeans may be able to help them with.

That brings Lance to where he is now. Seven phebs later, back on planet Zee for The Festival of Stars. Lance has been counting the days till the festival and making sure that everyone knew what it was about. As well as anything he could remember from what Alana had told him. 

But getting here wasn't smooth sailing. Keith left and hadn’t returned for phebs. He had finally returned with his Mother, Cosmo, and Romelle. Lotor was found out for the liar he was. Then Kuron was discovered and everything went further downhill. Shiro’s body now lies in a stasis waiting to be reunited with his consciousness, that is yet to be found. 

Lance now was happy to forget about the war for a while. He really wanted to enjoy some time with the newly restored Black Paladin. There wasn’t much down time in war. Plus it was Lance and Keith’s first anniversary. He couldn’t believe it’s been a full year since they started dating. 

“Alana! Koa!” Lance yells racing up to meet his friends, as Hunk and Pidge together become distracted by the telescopes placed in a long line in the viewing area. Allura was being swept away by the planet's diplomats once again. 

“Lance! We’re so glad you were able to make it to the festival.” Alana says as Lance runs to hug her. Smiling at Keith as he walks up behind Lance.

“Me too!” Lance said, moving to hug Koa, “We weren’t sure at first, but I’m glad it worked out!” 

“What do you mean?” Koa asks, accepting Lance’s hug.

“Um….we should enjoy the festival then we’ll talk about it.” Lance says, smiling at all the people moving to the fields. Their festival was much like what you’d see on Earth stands selling food, drinks, and knickknacks. People milling about laughing with one another. 

“Okay, let’s go find a place to watch.” Alana smiles, she starts through the crowd, Koa close behind her. 

Lance takes Keith’s hand, squeezing it gently to remind Keith to relax. Something he hasn’t done in a long while. Keith tightens his hold, shifting closer to Lance, weary of all the people in one area. 

Alana and Koa lead them to a small clearing that is home to rocks and small plants, all varying in bright colors. Lance pulls Keith to a turquoise colored rock large enough for them both to sit comfortably. Letting go of Lance’s hand Keith tucks himself slightly behind Lance, arm placed across his back. Lance leans into Keith’s side smiling up at the sky.

“This festival is the best time of the decapheb. Everyone is especially excited to have Voltron joining us.” Koa informs, settling on a rock similarly with Alana as the boys were. 

“We are grateful to be here.” Lance says, eyes never leaving the sky. 

Alana and Koa talk about what had happened since the Paladins were last on their planet. They had many patients come through the hospital. Alana explains how what she learned from Lance changed their methods of helping the Zeans. It turned out that the humans were similar to Zeans in mental functions. Lance was definitely grateful that he was able to help in some way while not remembering everything that had happened since leaving home. 

“Lance.” Keith says, face upturned towards the sky wonder fills his features.

Lance immediately turns his head to the stars to see them shooting acorns the sky. Finally Lance feels Keith relax, he brings his arms fully around Lance to rest his chin on his shoulder. 

Their night is filled with bright stars and smiles as they all enjoyed each other’s company. As well as the beautiful night sky. Lance’s smile never grew dim even as the shooting stars faded into day. 

Lance leans his head into Keith’s, “Let’s go get some sleep.” 

“Yeah.” Keith smiles, releasing his grip on Lance.

“Thank you for bringing us here, it's beautiful!” Lance thanks turning to face Alana and Koa. 

“You have nothing to thank us for.” Koa smiles, leading them back through the fields to the castle.

“Will you be joining us again tonight?” Alana asks, sleep collecting in her features.

“I don’t see why not.” Lance smiles, turning to consult Keith. Keith smiles back, nodding, “Then yes!”

Once Alana and Koa leave, Lance and Keith start their way back to their room. Both fought sleep as they changed for bed. They crawl into bed with Keith curled up on Lance’s chest.

“Are you doing okay?” Lance asks, unconsciously his hand comes up to play with Keith’s hair.

“Yeah, I’m just worried.” He admits, hand fisting in Lance’s shirt. Keith has been worried since Shior was found to be a fraud, it wasn’t an easy time for anyone, especially Keith. With just finding his mother Keith deserved to be happy, not worried. 

“He will be okay.” Lance assures, “We all will make sure of it.”

“Thank you,” Keith starts “I love you.” 

“I love you, so much.” 

They have a long road ahead, but they both know that they are going to face it together. No matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
